The following is a list of the television and radio networks and announcers that have broadcastNBA Finals games in the United States and Canada over the years.
In addition to the English-language broadcasts, the NBA Finals also have Spanish-language broadcasts since 2002.[1][2]
2020: Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the NBA postponed itsregular season from March 11 to July 29, resuming with the seeding games for the 22 contending teams. Consequently, the 2020 Finals were played inside abubble at theESPN Wide World of Sports Complex inBay Lake, Florida from September 30 to October 11, the latest date to end an NBA season. The Finals between theLos Angeles Lakers and theMiami Heat was the lowest-rated NBA Finals ever (4.0 rating over six games).
2021:Rachel Nichols was originally assigned to work as a sideline reporter, but was replaced byMalika Andrews after a private video leaked of Nichols uttering insensitive racial comments towardsAfrican American ESPN personalityMaria Taylor. Both Nichols and Taylor eventually left ESPN, with Taylor heading toNBC Sports after a contract dispute, and Nichols agreeing to a buyout after she was taken off of ESPN programming and had her show,The Jump, canceled due to this incident.
2022:ESPN2 televised NBA Finals: Celebrating 75, a special alternate presentation for Game 1 which aired Thursday at 9 PM ET from Seaport District studios in New York. Several guests includedMagic Johnson andJulius Erving.Mike Breen andJeff Van Gundy missed Game 1[5] due to COVID-19 protocols, andMark Jones filled in for Breen. Jones,Mark Jackson andLisa Salters made history in Game 1 as the first all-African American broadcast team to cover an NBA Finals game. Breen also missed Game 2, whereas Van Gundy returned.
2023:NBA in Stephen A's World, an alternate broadcast of ESPN's NBA games withStephen A. Smith as host along with various guests, aired on ESPN2 during Game 1 of the Finals.
2024:Doris Burke became the first woman to call an NBA Finals game on American network television, after previously working four NBA Finals onESPN Radio.
2025:Jorge Sedano filled in for Lisa Salters as sideline reporter in Games 2, 3 and 4 due to Salters attending to a family matter.
Per the current broadcast agreements, the Finals will be broadcast by ABC through 2036.
For the 2019 Finals (the first to feature theToronto Raptors), TSN and Sportsnet, the main Canadian rightsholders of both the NBA and the Raptors, were permitted to broadcast distinct Canadian telecasts, in addition to the ABC telecast being simulcast on their co-owned broadcast networks. Telecasts on both TSN and Sportsnet use a common technical crew employed by Raptors team ownerMaple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.[12]
Although the2007 NBA Finals aired onABC (as had been the case since2003), they were the first to carry the "ESPN on ABC" branding instead of theABC Sports branding.
Since 2007, NBA ratings have steadily risen, thanks to the resurgence of nationally recognized NBA teams, their star power, and their annual presence in the NBA Finals. Game 7 of the2010 NBA Finals had the best rating for a basketball game in the contemporaryNBA on ABC era, and the2011 Finals held steady in the ratings department as well. Both series drew over a 10 rating, beating theWorld Series in consecutive years for the first time ever.
2006:Lisa Salters was the main sideline reporter alongsideStuart Scott withMichele Tafoya on maternity leave. She was the mainABC sideline reporter forthat season before sliding back to secondary reporter with Tafoya's return.
2003: The series between theSan Antonio Spurs and theNew Jersey Nets was the lowest rated NBA Final (6.5 percent over six games) until 2007. This was also the only year that ABC broadcast both the NBA and the Stanley Cup Finals that involved teams from one city in the same year, as both the New Jersey Nets and theNew Jersey Devils were in their respective league's finals. During ABC's broadcast of Game 3 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Nets in New Jersey on June 8,Brad Nessler said that ABC was in a unique situation getting ready for both that game and Game 7 of theStanley Cup Finals between the Devils and theMighty Ducks of Anaheim the following night, also atContinental Airlines Arena.Gary Thorne mentioned this the following night and thanked Nessler for promotingABC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.[13]
During the2002 NBA Finals,Ahmad Rashad had toldThe Los Angeles Times before the 2002 NBA Finals began that he would be ending his 20-year run on NBC Sports with Game 3 of the NBA Finals on the pregame show. A feature in which he interviewedShaquille O'Neal andKobe Bryant would be his last assignment for the network. He andHannah Storm were replaced byBob Costas as host of the pregame show for the Finals, and Rashad declined to join Hannah Storm on the post-game show carried byCNBC.[14]
2001: NBC studio hostHannah Storm did not anchor the NBA Finals due to her being on maternity leave, soAhmad Rashad replaced her. She returned to cover the NBA Finals in2002, but as postgame host.
The retirement ofMichael Jordan set in motion the decline in NBA ratings which continued for several years. Ratings for the1999 NBA Finals (which in fairness, came after a lockout shortened season) were down significantly from the previous year, from an 18.7 to an 11.3. Primetime regular season games, which had become fairly routine (and highly rated) during the Jordan years, set record lows for NBC once Jordan retired. With the rise of theLos Angeles Lakers in the early part of the 2000s (decade), ratings improved, but never to the level of the 1980s or 1990s. The highest NBA Finals ratings on NBC after Jordan left was the2001 Finals, which featured the dominant and then-defending championLakers withShaquille O'Neal andKobe Bryant versus the polarizingAllen Iverson and the underdogPhiladelphia 76ers. The ratings for that series were a 12.1, still down 35 percent from 1998. NBC's last Finals, in2002, came after a resurgence in playoff ratings (including a 14.2 rating for Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals). However, the Finals itself registered the lowest ratings the event had seen since1981, topping out at a 10.2 average.
1998: The Finals between theChicago Bulls and theUtah Jazz was thehighest rated NBA Finals ever (18.7 percent rating over six games).Game 6 registered a 22.3Nielsen rating with a 38 share and attracted 72 million viewers and became the highest rated game in the history of the NBA.[15] The previous record was a 21.2 rating and 37 share for Game 7 of the1988 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers andDetroit Pistons.[16]
During the1997 NBA Finals,Hannah Storm became the first woman to serve as pre-game host of theNBA Finals after serving as a sideline reporter forNBC in the past four years, but she wasn't the first female broadcaster to cover the NBA Finals (that honor goes toLesley Visser).
OnceLarry Bird andMagic Johnson retired, the NBA's ratings sank, at least for one year. The1990 NBA Finals, (which was played before either Bird or Johnson retired) which registered a 12.3 rating (and was the last FinalsCBS aired) was the lone NBA Finals between the domination of Bird and Magic and the domination of then up-and-coming starMichael Jordan. In1991,NBC's first year with the NBA, the network got its dream matchup. Jordan'sBulls finally broke through, after several years of being dominated by the Pistons, and made it to the Finals. Jordan and the Bulls played Magic Johnson and theLakers, who were making what was to be their last appearance in the NBA Finals for the next nine years. The hype for the star-studded series was robust, and the ratings were the highest since1987, when theCeltics andLakers played for the final time. The next year, Jordan'sBulls once again made theFinals. Their competition that year was thePortland Trail Blazers, a team with fewer stars and from a smaller city. The ratings fell to a 14.2, the second-lowest rating for the Finals since1986. In1993, the NBA hit a high point. The six-game series between theBulls and the bombasticCharles Barkley'sPhoenix Suns averaged a 17.9 rating, a mark that eclipsed the previous record of 15.9.
The 1993 Finals were Jordan's last before his first retirement. TheHouston Rockets would take the next two titles consecutively. The ratings for those next two Finals decreased, but still had above-average views, and the1995 Finals even came to within .3 ratings points of the 1992 Finals and featured SuperstarShaquille O'Neal making the Finals with theOrlando Magic, which were swept 4–0 by theRockets. After the two seasons, Jordan returned. Subsequently, and almost instantly, ratings greatly increased. Jordan's first game back, a March 19, 1995 game between theBulls and theIndiana Pacers, scored a 10.9 rating for NBC, the highest rated regular-season NBA game of all time. Ratings for the Finals (which the Bulls played in the following three years) went up sharply as well. Game 1 of the1996 NBA Finals between theBulls andSeattle SuperSonics, the Bulls' 107–90 win at home in theUnited Center earned a 16.8rating and a 31 share on NBC. In addition, Game 1 was viewed in a then record 16,111,200 homes. On June 16, 1996, Game 6 of the NBA Finals (where the Bulls clinched their fourth NBA Championship in six years) drew an 18.8 rating and a 35 share. The six games of the 1996 NBA Finals averaged a 16.7 rating which ranks second all-time behind the 1993 NBA Finals. The six games of the1993 NBA Finals between the Bulls and Suns averaged a 17.9 rating. The next year, ratings for theBulls–Utah Jazz series were slightly better, before the1998 Finals blew away the 1993 record, averaging an 18.7 rating—one which will likely not be matched by the NBA Finals for the foreseeable future. The deciding Game 6 (and Michael Jordan's final game with theBulls) registered an NBA record 22.3 rating with a 38 share. The game was viewed by 72 million people, breaking the record set earlier that postseason by Game 7 of the1998 Eastern Conference Finals between thePacers and Bulls (that same game set a record for highest-rated non-Finals NBA game with a 19.1/33). The 1998 Finals managed to best the ratings for that year'sWorld Series, the first of only three NBA Finals ever to do so.
Game 1 of the 1991 Finals, played on Sunday afternoon (June 2), was the last time an NBA Finals game was played as a matinee. Since then, weekend games of the Finals (as well as midweek games) have been played in the evening to accommodate prime-time television.
1989:Pat O'Brien was the pre-game and halftime host for Game 2 becauseBrent Musburger was on assignment (Musburger was covering theCollege World Series for CBS). This was also in the case in1988. This was Musburger's last NBA Finals assignment for CBS, as he was fired on April 1, 1990, months before NBA's television contract with CBS expired. Musburger moved toABC andESPN, and later called nine NBA Finals series forESPN Radio between1996 and2004.
In1988, CBS achieved its only 20+ rating for an individual NBA game when the network got a 21.2 rating for Game 7 of the1988 NBA Finals between theLakers andDetroit Pistons. The Pistons would be in the next two NBA Finals, including a sweep thenext year, and the lowest ratings CBS had seen in six years the year after that, with a 12.3 in1990.
1987:James Brown was the sideline reporter for Games 3 and 4 (the latter being theMagic junior skyhook game) becausePat O'Brien attended the birth of son Sean Patrick. O'Brien called Games 1, 2, 5 and 6.
In 1987, theNBA Finals hit a then-record rating of 15.9. The1990 NBA Finals was CBS' last, after nearly two decades televising the NBA. While the network broadcast every Bird-Magic Finals, it never broadcast any Final involving Michael Jordan, who, starting the year after CBS ended involvement with the league, would dominate the NBA in a way that neither Bird or Magic had. In1990, the final year of the CBS deal, the regular season rating[17] stood at a 5.2. (Each rating point represents 931,000 households.)
Game 3 of the1986 NBA Finals inHouston was played during the midst of an electrical storm that knocked the picture out for the approximately, the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. Although the video was already on the fritz towards the end of the third,CBS announcerDick Stockton waited for nearly three minutes before adjusting to a radio play-by-play.
1984: The 1984 championship series was the most watched in NBA history, with soaring TVratings.
1983: CBS joined Game 1 in progress with 7:37 left in the first period (meaning, there was no standard pregame coverage). Following the introduction montage (which was notable as it marked premiere of the intercutting, Bill Feigenbaum createdCGI rendering ofBoston Garden, used by CBS through the start of the1989 Finals) with narration by anchorBrent Musburger, things were quickly passed off to play-by-play manDick Stockton.
1982: The '82 Finals marked the first time since 1978 that all games aired live in its entirely; As a compromise between CBS and the NBA, the season returned to late October after starting it in early October the previous two seasons, meaning that the championship series started after the conclusion of May sweeps. Also, Brent Musburger served as anchor for Game 1 in Philadelphia, but had to anchor Games 2 and 3 from New York, because he hostedCBS Sports Sunday. So anchoring the coverage in Musburger's absence were Frank Glieber (Games 2–4) and Pat O'Brien (Game 5).
From1979–1981, CBS aired weekday NBA Finals games ontape delay if they were not played on the West Coast. Games were televised after the late local news (11:30 pm) in theCBS Late Movie time slot. In some cases, games were seen live in the cities whose local NBA teams were playing. In 1981 for example,WNAC-TV Boston andKHOU-TV Houston carried Games 1, 2, 5 and 6 live, although most viewers around the country had to wait until after the late local news to see them.
1980 NBA Finals: The series-deciding Game 6 became the most notorious example ofCBS's practice of showing even the most important NBA games on "tape delay" broadcasts. Because May 16, 1980 was a Friday, the network did not want to preempt two of its highest-rated shows,The Dukes of Hazzard andDallas, even though both shows were already in reruns: the1979–80 TV season had ended early, back in March, in anticipation of a strike that summer by theScreen Actors Guild. So Game 6 was shown at 11:30 pm Eastern (10:30 pm Central) in all but four US cities:Los Angeles,Philadelphia,Portland andSeattle, who carried it live. The game was not broadcast at all inAtlanta. (This is often cited as an example of TV's lack of interest in the NBA in the "pre-Magic andBird" era.)
On a side note, here, in Game 4 of the 1980 Finals,Julius Erving executed the legendaryBaseline Move, an incredible, behind-the-board reverse layup that seemed to defy gravity. Play-by-play announcerBrent Musburger has noted that Erving made such moves almost routinely in his ABA days—but the ABA had no national TV contract in those days. This Game 4 move, played to a national audience in a title game, has probably become Julius Erving's most famous move.
1981: The series between theBoston Celtics and theHouston Rockets was the lowest rated NBA Finals in history (6.7 rating over six games), until the2003 NBA Finals drew only 6.5 percent of American television households. Four games of the 1981 series (Games 1, 2, 5 and the climatic Game 6) were telecast on tape delay outside of Boston and Houston.
As previously mentioned, before2003, the 1981 NBA Finals received the lowest televisionrating in NBA history. The 1981 Finals drew a 6.7 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. Meanwhile, the 2003 Finals between theSan Antonio Spurs andNew Jersey Nets drew a 6.5 rating. Due to this, the 1981 Finals were the last to be broadcast on tape-delay, with weeknight games airing after the late local news in most cities. Games 3 and 4 were played back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10, to giveCBS two live Finals games. Following the Finals,Gary Bender was relegated to tertiary play-by-play for the rest of his tenure in CBS, whileRick Barry's contract, following his questionable racial comments aboutBill Russell during the Finals, was not renewed. Russell would remain the main color commentator for the next two years alongside newly promoted main play-by-play commentatorDick Stockton. Curiously, Barry and Russell would reunite, this time on theNBA on TBS during the mid-1980s. Russell was replaced as CBS' lead analyst following the 1983 Finals by former Celtics teammateTom Heinsohn.
1977: The post-game trophy presentation following Game 6 was never aired becauseCBS decided toair theKemper Open following the game. Initially CBS wanted a 10:30 am. PT start to accommodate the golf tournament but the NBA refused, instead settling for the 12:00 pm. PT start time.
1976: There were three days of rest between Game 1 Sunday, May 23 and Game 2 Thursday, May 27, so that CBS would not have to count an NBA game in the Nielsen ratings for the May sweeps period. The 1976 May sweeps period ended Wednesday, May 26.
Game 3 tipped off at 10:30 am. MST to allow CBS to cover The Memorial golf tournament following the game. Church attendance that Sunday was sharply lower across Arizona, drawing an angry response from many clergy throughout the state.
CBS play-by-play announcerBrent Musburger, in a Fall 2009 interview withESPN, said that he and color announcerRick Barry were rooting forPhoenix to win Games 3, 4, and 6, although Barry'sGolden State Warriors were eliminated by the Suns in the Western Conference Finals. Musburger said that this was because he and Barry were paid by the game. Since the Series was 2–0Boston after the first two games, Musburger and Barry wanted the Suns to win the next two games to tie the series (likewise with Game 6). Boston fans, unaware of Musburger's and Barry's motivations, were upset with the announcing crew because of their apparent favoritism.
1970: The first NBA Finals to be nationally televised in full.
ABC's coverage of Game 7 wasblacked out on WABC-TV in theNew York area. Play-by-play manChris Schenkel made an announcement during the broadcast that the game would be rebroadcast in New York at 11:30 p.m.ET. The game was shown live on theMSG Network in New York City, which was then only available in about 25,000 cable households in Manhattan.
In Game 4 of the1965 Finals, theBoston Celtics beat theLos Angeles Lakers 112 to 99. In the closing minutes of the game,ABC cut away to a previously scheduled program. This event was likened toNBC cutting away from theWorld Series with the home team ahead 10 runs in the ninth inning.
For the majority of the 1960s, ABC only televised Sunday afternoon games, including the playoffs. ABC did not have to televise the deciding game if it occurred on a weeknight.
1962 – All of the games fromBoston were televised inLos Angeles onChannel 9 (then called KHJ-TV) withChick Hearn on play-by-play. For Game 7,Jack Drees joined the broadcast team. In addition, Chick Hearn indicated that Game 7 was beingsyndicated around the nation to a variety of cities. The game was broadcast in Boston byWHDH-TV, but the station originated its own broadcast withDon Gillis as the commentator.
NBA local teams each have their own respective radio networks serving different regions of their surrounding local areas, each with their own individually recognized flagship station.
Local team radio broadcasts are also available nationally onSirius-XM, or internationally available onNBA League Pass.
