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-cutter. We cover how to watch both in-market and out-of-market games. In this guide, we will review the best available streaming options for the 2019-2020 NBA season such as Sling TV, fuboTV, Hulu, NBA League Pass, and more.
Page Contents
- 1 How To Watch NBA Games Live Without Cable
- 2 Which Channels Stream NBA Games?
- 3 NBA League Pass
- 4 Watch NBA Games With fuboTV
- 5 Watch Live NBA Games With Hulu + Live TV
- 6 Watch NBA Games With Sling TV
- 7 How To Use a VPN To Stream NBA Games
- 8 Illegal Streams of NBA Games
- 9 2019-2020 NBA Team Guide For Watching Games Online
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, computers, streaming devices, smart TV, and more.
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 Hulu, fuboTV, YouTube TV, Sling TV, NBA League Pass, and PlayStation Vue. We recommend fuboTV and Hulu as the best options. Sling TV was on the list but they have recently lost availability of regional sports networks.
| Teams |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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, 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. Currently, Sling TV is engaged in a carriage battle with Fox and has taken away most regional sports networks.
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 the 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.
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 also great for cord-cutters who want sports and other types of channels. 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 several different packages fubo Standard ($54.99/mo), Family ($59.99/mo), Family Deluxe ($64.99/month), Premium ($74.99/mo), and fubo Latino ($24.99/mo).
The fubo Standard package contains 97 channels; Family has 97 channels, 3 screens at once, and 500 hours of cloud DVR; Family Deluxe has 132 channels, 3 screens at once, 500 hours of cloud DVR, and fubo Extra; Premium has 132 channels, 3 screens at once, 500 hours of cloud DVR, and fubo Extra; Premium has 141 channels, 3 screens at once, 500 hours of cloud DVR, 9 Showtime channels on-demand, and fubo Extra.
New customers can get a 7-day free trial by going through our link. Please read our comprehensive fuboTV review for more details.
Watch Live NBA Games With Hulu + Live TV
Hulu isn’t just for on-demand TV shows anymore, they now have Hulu + Live TV which gives cord-cutters access tons of live sports such as the NBA. Perhaps you’ve seen the commercials that have featured NBA stars like Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Damian Lillard.
Currently, this service is our top-rated option for NBA games because it carries local channels such as ABC, has all of the regional sports networks required for most teams, and also has ESPN and TNT.
Hulu only offers one live streaming TV package which costs $44.99/month. In addition to sports, Hulu + Live TV contains over 60 channels. Other popular channels offered by this service are HGTV, Disney Jr, FS1 and FS2, A&E, FX, Food Network, USA, and more.
Watch NBA Games With Sling TV
Sling TV was also one of our favorite services but due to the loss of regional sports networks, Sling TV has taken a dive in our rankings. With that said this service does carry ABC, ESPN, TNT, NBA TV and has options for NBA League Pass or NBA Team Pass.
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 $10/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.
How To Use a VPN To Stream NBA Games
One of the greatest annoyances to NBA cord-cutters is 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). This may sound complicated but with most VPNs, you can do this in just a few clicks.
Not sure which VPN to use? Our top-rated VPN is ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN is a fast, reliable, and inexpensive option to pair with your favorite streaming service. Plans begin as low as $8.32/month. You can try ExpressVPN free for 30-days.
Illegal Streams of NBA Games
It is our policy to never recommend any illegal streams of NBA games or anything else. Most illegal “free” streams put you at considerable risk to acquire viruses and dangerous malware. These streams are untrustworthy, blurry, low-quality, and quite frankly just flat out garbage. It is not worth the risk by any means just to save a few bucks.
2019-2020 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 |
