The NBA playoffs began proper on time earlier this month, however whereas the playoff calendar hasn’t modified this 12 months, the published schedule has shifted for the 2026 playoffs.
Beneath the NBA’s new media-rights deal, video games this season had been break up throughout its three broadcast companions: Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Prime Video). Every of those three entities has part of the playoffs.
This is what you should know to observe the 2026 NBA playoffs on this new streaming period for skilled basketball.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder have a first-round matchup in opposition to the Phoenix Suns as they try to repeat as NBA champions.
Easy methods to watch the NBA playoffs
The channel lineup wanted for the NBA playoffs is completely different this 12 months. Gone are video games on TNT and NBA TV. As an alternative, you may want a TV subscription that has ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBC Sports activities Community — plus Amazon Prime. Or you possibly can go the streaming route and use Prime Video, Peacock and ESPN Limitless.
NBC/Peacock has essentially the most first-round protection. It can present as much as 23 first-round video games and 11 second-round video games in addition to the Western Convention Finals. Each considered one of its video games will stream on Peacock and likewise be proven on both NBC or NBCSN.
The remainder of the primary spherical video games might be break up between ESPN/ABC and Prime Video. This 12 months’s Jap Convention finals might be on ESPN/ABC. And in June, the NBA Finals might be broadcast on ABC.
You possibly can see all the first-round matchups and TV schedule right here.
Peacock will stream NBA playoff video games from the primary spherical by means of the Western Convention Finals. Video games on Peacock may also seem on NBC or NBC Sports activities Community, so you do not essentially want Peacock to have entry to each NBA playoff sport.
You possibly can stream each NBA playoff broadcast with Peacock’s $11-a-month Premium plan. Learn our Peacock assessment.
Prime Video will present first- and second-round video games by means of Might 17.
Prime Video is included with an Amazon Prime subscription for $15 a month or $139 a 12 months. You may as well subscribe solely to Prime Video for $9 a month. Learn our Prime Video assessment.
With ESPN Limitless, you possibly can watch each NBA playoff sport that is on ESPN or ABC. It can have protection for each spherical of the playoffs, together with the Jap Convention Finals and NBA Finals.
The ESPN Limitless plan prices $30 a month (or $300 a 12 months) and allows you to stream all of ESPN’s linear networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, SEC Community and ACC Community. You additionally get entry to programming on ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN Plus and ACCNX. Learn our ESPN Limitless assessment.
(There’s additionally a $13-a-month ESPN Choose plan, which is principally a rebranding of ESPN Plus. With it, you may have entry to hundreds of dwell video games — assume small school conferences, whose video games you possibly can’t watch anyplace else — however not the NBA.)
Greatest dwell TV streaming service for the NBA Playoffs
In case you are already an Amazon Prime subscriber, then you definately simply want 4 TV channels to get full protection of the NBA playoffs: ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBC Sports activities Community. The catch is NBCSN, which Comcast simply relaunched late final 12 months forward of its protection of the Winter Olympics.
The 5 main dwell TV streaming companies — DirecTV, Fubo, Hulu Plus Dwell TV, Sling and YouTube TV — every carry ABC, NBC and ESPN, however I can discover NBCSN solely on YouTube TV’s channel listings. So, that is the decide for the NBA playoffs in the event you do not need to miss a sport.
YouTube TV prices $83 a month and contains ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBC Sports activities Community. Plug in your ZIP code on YouTube TV’s welcome web page to see which native networks can be found in your space. There’s a five-day trial, and the primary three months are discounted to $68 a month for brand new subscribers.
Learn our YouTube TV assessment.
Dwell TV streaming companies will let you cancel anytime and require a strong web connection. On the lookout for extra info? Take a look at our dwell TV streaming companies information and our picks for the finest sports activities streaming companies.