How to Watch NBA Basketball Online in 2024

Even if you don’t have season tickets or court-side seats, the NBA season has a ton of excitement in store for basketball fans! If you’d rather catch the game from the comfort of your own home, where the snacks are cheaper, and the line for the bathroom is (hopefully) much shorter, we’re here to help – follow our guide to watching NBA games without cable.

First thing first: We know that NBA games are broadcast on TV channels, and we know that thanks to the proliferation of online streaming services, we can find most channels without a cable plan. 

If you’re lucky enough to live in the same region as your favorite team, you’ll want to find the regional sports network, or RSN, that offers games in your area. If you’re a Houston Rockets fan, for example, you’ll want to keep an eye out for Space City Home Network, which broadcasts Rockets basketball and Houston Astros baseball in Texas, Oklahoma, and more. 

The rest of us will have to catch our favorite team on national broadcast channels. The NBA’s broadcast partners include ABC, ESPN, and TNT, so those networks are a great place to start. You can also find games on NBA TV, the NBA’s own official broadcast network.

If you live outside your team’s local market and don’t have access to their RSN on TV, then you might want to check out NBA League Pass. If you can get your hands on your team’s RSN or only care to catch nationally broadcast games on ESPN and TNT, then you can opt for a live TV streaming service. These services have exploded in popularity in recent years due to their cable-like experience for a lower cost than traditional cable providers and with less binding commitments. Here are the best streaming services to use to stream live NBA games: 

• NBA League Pass
• Hulu + Live TV
• DIRECTV
• fuboTV
• Sling TV
• Philo
• YouTube TV
• Free Over-the-Air TV

Why bother trying to watch your favorite players on a hand-held screen? The top names in NBA basketball deserve a top-tier viewing experience like you’d get from your living room TV. Luckily for basketball fans, our favorite streaming services all work exceptionally well with our favorite streaming devices and platforms. You should be able to use services like Hulu + Live TV on platforms like Roku and Fire TV with little trouble at all.

If you rely on NBA League Pass to get your live NBA games, you might come up against a dreaded blackout game. If you live in your team’s home market, where you have access to their RSN, then you’ll miss out on their games on NBA League Pass. If you’re an NBA League Pass holder on the hunt for a blacked-out game, turn to your RSN or a network like ABC, ESPN, TNT, or NBA TV. 

If you can’t find your blacked-out game live, there is still hope: blacked-out games become available on-demand only three hours after airing on a national network and three days after airing on an RSN. NBA League Pass users might need to exercise a little patience. 

If you absolutely can’t wait for your favorite team’s game and need to get around an NBA League Pass blackout, you can use a VPN to virtually change your computer’s perceived location. Many streaming services frown on VPN usage, and some won’t work with NBA League Pass, so make sure you use the right one. Additionally, VPNs tend to work better on laptops and competitors than on mobile devices!

That being said, even with a VPN, NBA League Pass only nets you regular-season NBA coverage. Make sure you’re ready for the playoffs by following our guide to watching the NBA playoffs without cable!