Watching your favorite NBA teams and basketball games without a cable TV subscription is super easy. There are many different choices available for almost every type of cord-cutters out there including in-market and out-of-market games. In this guide, we will reviews the best available streaming options for the 2018-2019 NBA season such as Sling TV, fuboTV, NBA League Pass, and more.
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How To Watch NBA Games Live Without Cable
You can watch live NBA games without a cable TV subscription by using a live TV streaming service or by signing up for NBA League Pass. You can watch basketball games on several devices including smartphones and computers.
You can stream 25 of 30 NBA teams locally. There are local blackout restrictions for Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, or Utah Jazz; however, this can be circumvented by using a VPN. We cover how to use a VPN for viewing basketball games later on in this article.
The most popular live streaming services are fuboTV, Sling TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, and YouTube TV.
| Channels |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Hawks | ||||||
| Boston Celtics | ||||||
| Brooklyn Nets | ||||||
| Charlotte Hornets | ||||||
| Chicago Bulls | ||||||
| Cleveland Cavaliers | ||||||
| Dallas Mavericks | ||||||
| Denver Nuggets | ||||||
| Detroit Pistons | ||||||
| Golden State Warriors | ||||||
| Houston Rockets | ||||||
| Indiana Pacers | ||||||
| LA Clippers | ||||||
| Los Angeles Lakers | ||||||
| Memphis Grizzlies | ||||||
| Miami Heat | ||||||
| Milwaukee Bucks | ||||||
| Minnesota Timberwolves | ||||||
| New Orleans Pelicans | ||||||
| New York Knicks | ||||||
| Oklahoma City Thunder | ||||||
| Orlando Magic | ||||||
| Philadelphia 76ers | ||||||
| Phoenix Suns | ||||||
| Portland Trail Blazers | ||||||
| Sacramento Kings | ||||||
| San Antonio Spurs | ||||||
| Utah Jazz | ||||||
| Washington Wizards |
Which Channels Stream NBA Games?
NBA games are televised on the following channels: ABC, ESPN/ESPN2 (R), TNT (R), NBA TV, and Regional Sports Networks (RSNs).
| Channels | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | ||||||
| ESPN/ESPN2 | ||||||
| TNT | ||||||
| NBA TV | ||||||
| NBA League Pass | ||||||
| NBA Team Pass | ||||||
| RSNs |
Regional Sports Networks
Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) are available on fuboTV, Sling TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, and YouTube TV. This includes networks such as Fox Sports and NBC Sports regional broadcasts, YES Network, MSG Network. MSG Network is only available on fuboTV and DIRECTV NOW.
NBA League Pass
NBA League Pass is the official streaming service of the NBA. You can purchase this service as a standalone or as an add-on with a live TV streaming service. This service is available on 19 different devices including smartphones, tablets, Roku, Amazon devices, gaming consoles, and more.
NBA League pass currently offers several different plan tiers.
- NBA League Pass Premium– This plan costs $249.99/annual or $39.99/monthly. With this plan, you can watch live games in HD for ALL teams. You also get home/away & Spanish, preferred mobile view, condensed and full game replays, home/away radio for all NBA games, live games produced for VR, access to NBA classic games, watch 4 games with mosaic view, commercial free, and in-arena stream.
- NBA League Pass– This plan costs $199.99/annual or $28.99/monthly. With this plan, you can watch live games in HD for ALL teams. You also get home/away & Spanish, preferred mobile view, condensed and full game replays, home/away radio for all NBA games, live games produced for VR, access to NBA classic games, watch 4 games with mosaic view, commercial free, and in-arena stream.
- NBA Team Pass– This plan costs $119.99/annual or $17.99/monthly. With this plan you can watch live games in HD for one team. You also get home/away & Spanish, preferred mobile view, condensed and full game replays, home/away radio for all NBA games, and watch 4 games with mosaic view.
- NBA Single Game Pass– This plan costs $6.99/game. With this plan, you can watch live games in HD for one game. You also get home/away & Spanish, preferred mobile view, condensed and full game replays, home/away radio for all NBA games, and live games produced for VR.
- NBA League Pass Audio– This plan costs $9.99. You will gain access to home/away radio for all teams.
- NBA League Pass VR– This plan costs $49.99/annual. You will gain access to all NBA League Pass games produced in virtual reality.
Based on your current location, certain game blackouts exist. This applies to both the standalone service and cord-cutting services. If a game is aired in your home market on a national network such as TNT or ESPN, you will not be able to watch the game live on NBA League Pass. These restrictions include your local NBA team(s) and all nationally telecast games but you can catch game replays with NBA League Pass. You can search for blackouts here.
Many subscribers have reported that using a VPN works very well with NBA League Pass. We recommend using ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or Cyber Ghost VPN.
Watch NBA Games With fuboTV
This streaming service is one of our top picks. fuboTV is a live streaming service that was specifically designed for sports fans. This service is great for cord-cutters who like other sports and want other types of channels too. This service is the most flexible for different ways to watch your favorite NBA teams and games.
fuboTV includes both FOX Sports and NBC Sports RSNs, YES Network, and MSG Sports. It also includes NBA TV and you can stream nationally televised games on TNT. It is important to note that ESPN/ESPN2 and ABC are not offered; however, this will barely impact cord-cutters who are in-market for most teams and ABC can be obtained using a digital antenna. fuboTV also offers NBA League Pass. This add-on costs $28.99/monthly. This is a great option to watch out-of-market teams.
fuboTV offers two different packages fubo ($39.99/month) and fubo Extra ($44.99/month). The fubo package contains over 75+ channels and the fubo Extra package has 90+ channels. New customers can get the first month of either package at a 20% discount through our link.
fuboTV also is offering a limited time, special deal, the fubo Extra Bundle ($34.99/month) which includes 103 channels, SHOWTIME for 2 months, free 500 hours of Cloud DVR free forever, and 3 screens free forever. Please read our comprehensive fuboTV review for more details.
This service is also really great to use with VPNs such as ExpressVPN because fuboTV offers so any RSNs. Simply connect to a different server location and you can unlock different regional content.
Watch NBA Games With Sling TV
Sling TV is also one of our favorite services. This option is great for all types of cord-cutters but is particularly great for people looking for an inexpensive option with lots of value or people who just want basketball and not a ton of extra channels.
The Sling Orange bundle costs $25 and includes ESPN/ESPN2 and TNT. This gives subscribers access to ESPN’s Wednesday and Friday broadcasts and TNT’s double-header Thursdays, most of the playoffs and conference finals.
ABC can be added on in most markets for an additional $5/month as part of the “Broadcast Extra” bundle. Of course, you can always supplement with a digital antenna, which Sling TV will give you for free if you pre-pay for 2 months.
NBA TV can be added for $5/month as part of the “Sports Extra” package. NBA TV offers more than 95-regular season games.
Subscribers can also choose to add-on NBA League Pass for $28.99/monthly per month or NBA Team Pass for $17.99/monthly.
Watch NBA Games With Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
One of the greatest annoyances to NBA cord cutters are the blackout restrictions. Cord cutters can bypass these restrictions easily by using a Virtual Private Network or VPN. A VPN is a simple software program that allows you to encrypt your traffic and mask your IP address by connecting to a server in a different location.
Services such as NBA League Pass are notorious for blackout restrictions. In order to bypass this, you need to connect to a server in a region that does not have a blackout. Many people actually prefer to purchase International NBA League Pass and connect to a server that does not offer this service such as Mexico. VPNs can also be used with services such as Sling TV or fuboTV to unlock different Regional Sports Networks (RSNs).
Not sure which VPN to use? Do not worry we have vetted and tested many different services and have a few recommendations.
- ExpressVPN – Over 2,000 VPN servers in 148 server locations in 94 countries. Unlimited bandwidth, speed, and server switches. No logging. This is our top choice. 30-day guarantee.
- NordVPN – Use over 5,156 servers from 62 countries around the world. Pay using bitcoin for maximum security. No logging and military grade AES 256-bit encryption.
- Cyber Ghost VPN – Over 2,900 servers in 60 countries. Offer 5 simultaneous connections, no logging policy, and has top-notch encryption.
2018-2019 NBA Team Guide For Watching Games Online
| Atlantic Division Boston Celtics Brooklyn Nets New York Knicks Philadephia 76ers Toronto Raptors | Central Division Chicago Bulls Cleveland Cavaliers Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Milwaukee Bucks | Southeast Division Atlanta Hawks Charlotte Hornets Miami Heat Orlando Magic Washington Wizards |
| Northwest Division Denver Nuggets Minnesota Timberwolves Oklahoma City Thunder Portland Trail Blazers Utah Jazz | Pacific Division Golden State Warriors LA Clippers Los Angeles Lakers Phoenix Suns Sacramento Kings | Southwest Division Dallas Mavericks Houston Rockets Memphis Grizzlies New Orleans Pelicans San Antonio Spurs |
