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| NBA on ESPN | |
|---|---|
 Current logo used since the2017–18 season | |
| Genre | NBA game telecasts |
| Starring | Various personalities (seebelow) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 150 minutes or until game ends |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 1982 (1982) – 1984 (1984) |
| Release | October 30, 2002 (2002-10-30) – present |
TheNBA on ESPN is the branding used for the presentation ofNational Basketball Association (NBA) games on theESPN family of networks. The ESPN cable network first televised NBA games from1982 until1984, and has been airing games currently since the2002–03 NBA season.ESPN2 began airing a limited schedule of NBA games in 2002.ABC began televising NBA games under full ESPN production in2006 (ABC Sports aired NBA games under the title of theNBA on ABC from 2002 to 2006). On October 6, 2014, ESPN and the NBA renewed their agreement through 2025, and on July 24, 2024, its agreement was renewed through 2036.[1][2][3]
On January 30, 1982, the NBA reached a two-year agreement with ESPN to broadcast the league's 40 regular season and 10 playoff games from1982–83 until1983–84.[4][5][6]
Initially from 1982-83 until 1983–84, ESPN aired the NBA's regular season games every Sunday.[4]
On January 22, 2002, the NBA signed an initial six-year agreement withThe Walt Disney Company that allowed ABC and its sister networkESPN (of which Disney owned an 80% stake) to broadcast the NBA's 75 regular season and 24 playoff games.[7][8] Currently, ESPN airs games on Wednesdays and Fridays, with select games broadcast on ESPN or ABC on select Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, as well as much of theChristmas Day games. Regular season broadcasts on ESPN are usually billed asNBA (name of day) since the 2008–09 season. ESPN/ABC also holds the exclusive rights to air the Eastern Conference Finals on even-numbered years (oppositeTNT's Western Conference Finals telecast), the Western Conference Finals on odd-numbered years (opposite TNT's Eastern Conference Finals telecast). In contrast, ABC holds the exclusive broadcast rights to the NBA Finals. ESPN/ABC also has the rights to air theNBA draft.
In June 2007, the NBA renewed its television agreement with ESPN and ABC through 2016, which included expanded digital rights and an increased number of playoff games on ABC and ESPN.[9] This agreement was renewed again through 2025 in 2014.[1][2]
ESPN renewed its agreement again in 2024 to take its coverage through to 2036, but withNBC Sports andAmazon Prime Video replacing TNT as broadcasters, national rights were split differently. Among the changes, ESPN's Friday schedule was reduced from spanning the entire regular season to only selected weeks, ABC/ESPN coverage during the first two playoff rounds was reduced to about 18 games, and the final season of the contract (2035–36 season) is when ABC/ESPN will not air any conference finals.[3][10] As part of a separate sublicensing agreement with Disney and TNT parent companyWarner Bros. Discovery, ESPN and ABC gained the broadcasting rights toTNT Sports'Inside the NBA beginning in the2025–26 season, the first season of their renewed agreement. TNT Sports will continue to produce the show for ESPN and ABC.[11][12][13][14]
ESPN's best-known NBA broadcast team consists ofMike Breen on play-by-play, withJeff Van Gundy andMark Jackson as analysts. The trio called 15NBA Finals together from 2007 to 2011, and again from 2014 to 2023. Other notable commentators throughout the years includeAl Michaels,Mark Jones,Dave Pasch,Mike Tirico,Adam Amin,Ryan Ruocco,Hubie Brown,Richard Jefferson,JJ Redick, among others. Notable sideline reporters includeMichele Tafoya,Doris Burke (later a game analyst),Israel Gutierrez,Rachel Nichols,Lisa Salters,Malika Andrews,Cassidy Hubbarth,Ros Gold-Onwude,Jorge Sedano, among others.
Since the2017–18 season,Doris Burke became a regular analyst for the NBA on ESPN, replacingDoug Collins.[15]
The2021–22 season marked the addition ofBeth Mowins to the roster of play-by-play commentators. She is the first woman to call an NBA regular season (and playoff) game.[16] In the same season,JJ Redick joined the crew as analyst following his retirement from playing basketball.[17]
In August 2023, as part of a shakeup following the company's layoffs of many of its employees and personalities,[18] ESPN announced major changes in its commentator lineup for the2023–24 season. The new lead broadcast team consists of Mike Breen, Doris Burke, and former NBA coachDoc Rivers. Burke will become the first female TV analyst in a major men's championship round.[19] Burke and Rivers replace lead analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Jackson, who were laid off by the network after the2023 NBA Finals.[20][21][22] Additionally, a second core broadcast team consisting ofRyan Ruocco, JJ Redick, andRichard Jefferson was formed. The team calls theNBA Sunday Showcase games and works together for other marquee events throughout the season and into the playoffs. The trio debuted during the opening week of the regular season rather than the preseason, due to Ruocco's assignment for the2023 WNBA Finals. The first game they called was the game between the visitingDallas Mavericks and theSan Antonio Spurs, notable for2023 first draft pickVictor Wembanyama's regular season debut. That same year,Bob Myers joined the broadcast team as game analyst.[23] After Rivers was hired as head coach of theMilwaukee Bucks in January 2024, Redick joined Breen and Burke on the lead team.[24] Ahead of the 2024–25 season, ESPN started using a rotating cast of second analysts to join Breen and Burke after Redick became head coach of theLos Angeles Lakers; ESPN then announced on February 24, 2025, that Jefferson will remain with Breen and Burke for the rest of the season.[25] They also addedTim Legler,Cory Alexander andJay Bilas as game analysts, and also hiredMinnesota Timberwolves TV play-by-play announcer Michael Grady.Shams Charania replacedAdrian Wojnarowski as NBA insider before the season.[26]
NBA Countdown, previouslyNBA Shootaround, is ESPN's main studio program, airing before each game telecast. ESPN's in-game studio programs originally consisted ofKevin Frazier andTim Hardaway on Fridays withStuart Scott replacing Frazier on Wednesdays. After horrible reviews for Hardaway, ESPN brought inGreg Anthony to replace him on Friday nights. Frazier and Anthony became ESPN's main studio team and worked most of the playoffs. For the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals, ESPN used ABC's halftime team ofMike Tirico andSean Elliott for all the games.
2003–04 was the first year of the longest-tenured ESPN studio team. Frazier and Anthony were joined by controversial writerStephen A. Smith and NBA legendBill Laimbeer. Laimbeer, departing to continue coaching in theWNBA, was replaced byTim Legler during the2004 NBA Playoffs. Smith, Legler and Anthony were joined byJohn Saunders (replacing Frazier, who left to hostEntertainment Tonight) fromlate 2004 to the end of the2005–2006 season.
ESPN's studio team was generally more criticized[27] than praised. After the Pacers–Pistons brawl, ESPN's studio team came under severe criticism, both by the media[28] and by ESPN itself[29] for their stance regarding the actions ofIndiana PacerRon Artest (who entered the stands to confront a fan, sparking the melee). Saunders came down hard on Detroit fans, referring to them as "punks," while Anthony and Legler defended Artest.
For the2006-07 NBA season, Saunders was replaced byFred Hickman, with the remaining team left intact.[30] Previous reports by The Big Lead.com andThe New York Post indicated that Anthony, Legler and Smith along with Saunders would be replaced byDan Patrick,Michael Wilbon andMark Jackson.[31] Smith's role was significantly reduced, as he would no longer appear in studio with Hickman, Legler and Anthony, instead appearing during "The A List", a segment during the pregame show.
The program was hosted by eitherHannah Storm,Stuart Scott orMark Jones, alongside analystsChris Mullin,Jalen Rose,Jamal Mashburn,Jon Barry andMichael Wilbon.
The program was also moved from ABC-owned studios atTimes Square in New York City to ESPN's headquarters inBristol, Connecticut.
The format changed for the 2011–2012 season. The show moved from Bristol to ESPN's West Coast headquarters in Los Angeles. Storm, Scott and Jones were dropped from the program and the host role abandoned. Instead, four analysts (Wilbon, Barry,Magic Johnson, andChris Broussard) discuss scores, games, and other topics in more of a free form style than previously used.
In 2023, as part of major changes to its commentary team,Malika Andrews became the new lead host ofNBA Countdown.[23]
On November 16, 2024,Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company ofTNT Sports, reached a settlement with the NBA involvingTNT's coverage rights. WBD and Disney also entered into a sub-licensing agreement to broadcast TNT's studio showInside the NBA on ESPN and ABC beginning the 2025–26 season, with TNT Sports continuing to produce the show with its existing personalities.Inside the NBA will air during ESPN and ABC's "high-profile live events, including ESPN’s pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of the NBA Finals on ABC, Conference Finals, NBA Playoffs, all ABC games after January 1, Christmas Day, opening week, the final week of the season and other marquee live events."[11]
ESPN's highestrated NBA game was Game 5 of the2006 Eastern Conference Finals between theMiami Heat andDetroit Pistons. The game scored a 5.5 cable Nielsen rating, with nearly five million viewers. To put that in context,Monday Night Football on ESPN posted ratings of 9+ in two of its first three telecasts. ESPN's highest rated regular season contest was the first matchup betweenShaquille O'Neal andYao Ming. The game between theLos Angeles Lakers andHouston Rockets scored a 3.82 cable Nielsen rating.
Generally, ESPN's regular season ratings are the same as competitor TNT's. During the playoffs, TNT has higher ratings, especially during the Conference Finals (from 2003 to 2005, TNT's Conference Final ratings were at least a full ratings point higher than ESPN's: 4.6 to 2.8 in 2003, 6.3 to 3.8 in 2004 and 5.0 to 4.0 in 2005). In 2006, for the first time ever, ESPN's Conference Final coverage averaged higher ratings than TNT's, averaging a 4.8 to TNT's 4.6.
ESPN2 aired a handful of NBA regular season games from2002 to2006, typically in January, when prime timegolf tournaments preempted coverage on ESPN. On several occasions, ESPN2 would air the first game of a doubleheader, while ESPN air the second game. Starting with the2006–2007 season, regular season games on ESPN2 were discontinued. During the playoffs, ESPN2 airs games that otherwise would not have appeared on any outlet other thanNBA TV, mostly on Friday nights and only during the first round.
ESPN2 NBA coverage is mostly made up of studio shows, notablyNBA Coast to Coast.NBA Coast to Coast, formerly known asNBA Fastbreak Tuesday andNBA Nation, is a two-hour long Tuesday night studio show that features live cut-ins to games throughout the league. In addition toCoast to Coast, ESPN2 airs several editions ofNBA Fastbreak, ESPN's NBA oriented highlight show.
Despite airing fewer than forty NBA games in its eleven years of existence, ESPN2 did televise NBA legendMichael Jordan's final game inChicago in January 2003.
ESPN2 also airedKobe Bryant's final game against theUtah Jazz on April 13, 2016.
ESPN2 also aired aLeBron James potential record breaking game on February 3, 2023[36]
ESPN2 is the primary outlet for ESPNWNBA coverage, televising regular season games, theWNBA Finals and theWNBA draft.WNBA Shootaround, the WNBA equivalent of ESPN's NBA pregame show, airs sporadically on the network, typically before presentations ofWNBA Tuesday.
Beginning with the2022–23 season, ESPN2 began airingalternate presentations of select NBA games in a similar vein toManningcast andKayRod Cast duringMonday Night Football andSunday Night Baseball respectively, withStephen A. Smith as host. The series was titledNBA in Stephen A.'s World.
| Preceded by None | NBA pay television carrier (withCBS) in the United States 1982–1984 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by TBS | NBA pay television carrier (withTNT) in the United States 2002–present | Succeeded by – |
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Owners:Walt Disney Company (80%);Hearst Communications (20%) | |||||||||||||||||||
