NBA playoffs for $30 a month
ESPN Unlimited
It’s mid-April, and the NBA playoffs begin on schedule. While the playoff calendar has not changed this year, the broadcast schedule has changed for the 2026 NBA playoffs.
The way I use the NBA goes up a lot over the course of the game, growing with each subsequent round. I rarely look for a game to watch during an 82-game regular season and wait for the playoffs to be set before I’m ready to sit down and watch the game from tip-off to the final buzzer.
If you’re like me, and your NBA fans live through game highlights, podcasts and catch the occasional second half, fourth quarter or (more likely) the last few minutes of an actual live game, you’ll need to get used to the new NBA media landscape with the start of the playoffs.
Under the NBA’s new media rights agreement, games this season are divided among three broadcast partners: Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Prime Video). And each of these three organizations has a share of the playoffs.
Here’s what you need to know to watch the 2026 NBA playoffs this new season, starting with the Play-in tournament that begins tonight.
LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets are on the court tonight against the Miami Heat in the NBA Play-in tournament on Prime Video.
How to watch the NBA Play-in tournament
The tournament will start with two games tonight followed by two more tomorrow before concluding with two games on Friday. All six shows will be streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime.
Here is the Play-in tournament schedule. Each game will be broadcast exclusively on Prime Video.
Tuesday, April 14
- No. 10 Miami Heat at No. 9 Charlotte Hornets: 7:30 p.m. ET
- No. 8 Portland Trail Blazers at No. 7 Phoenix Suns: 10 p.m. ET
Wednesday, April 15
- No. 8 Orlando Magic at No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers: 7:30 p.m. ET
- No. 10 Golden State Warriors at No. 9 LA Clippers: 10 p.m. ET
Friday, April 17
- Eastern Conference 9/10 winner 7/8 loser: 7:30 pm ET
- Western Conference 9/10 winner 7/8 loser: 10 pm ET
Prime Video will broadcast six games of the playoffs this week. There will be more first and second round matches until May 17.
Prime Video is included with an Amazon Prime subscription for $15 per month or $139 per year. You can also subscribe only Main Video for $9 a month. Read our Prime Video review.
NBA playoff TV schedule
After this week’s playoffs, the field of 16 is set for the first round of the NBA playoffs starting Saturday.
The channel lineup required for the NBA playoffs is different this year. No more games on TNT and NBA TV. Instead, you’ll need a TV subscription with ABC, ESPN, NBC and the NBC Sports Network — plus Amazon Prime. Or you can go the streaming route and use Prime Video, Peacock and ESPN Unlimited.
NBC/Peacock has coverage of the first round. It will appear in 23 first-round games and 11 games in the second and final rounds of the Western Conference. All of its games will be broadcast on Peacock and rebroadcast on NBC or NBCSN.
The rest of the first round games will be split between ESPN/ABC and Prime Video. This year’s Eastern Conference Finals will be on ESPN/ABC. And when the calendar turns to June, the NBA Finals will be broadcast on ABC.
Peacock will broadcast NBA playoff games from the first round to the Western Conference Finals. Games on the Peacock will also appear on NBC or the NBC Sports Network, so you don’t really need a Peacock to have access to every NBA playoff game.
You can stream all NBA playoff broadcasts with Peacock’s Premium plan for $11 per month. Read our Peacock review.
With ESPN Unlimited, you can watch every NBA playoff game on ESPN or ABC. It will have coverage of every round of the playoffs, including the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals.
The ESPN Unlimited plan costs $30 per month (or $300 per year) and allows you to stream all of ESPN’s linear networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network and ACC Network. You also get access to programming on ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN Plus and ACCNX. Read our ESPN Unlimited review.
(There’s also the $13-month ESPN Select plan, which is a rebranding of ESPN Plus. With it, you’ll have access to thousands of live sports — think minor college conferences, whose games you can’t watch anywhere else — but not the NBA.)
The best NBA Playoffs live TV streaming service
If you already subscribe to Amazon Prime, you only need four TV channels to get full coverage of the NBA playoffs: ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBC Sports Network. The catch is NBCSN, which Comcast relaunched late last year ahead of its Winter Olympics coverage.
The five biggest live TV streaming services — DirectTV, Fubo, Hulu Plus Live TV, A sling again YouTube TV — each carries ABC, NBC and ESPN, but I can only find NBCSN in the YouTube TV channel list. So, that’s the pick for the NBA playoffs if you don’t want to miss a game.
YouTube TV costs $83 per month and includes ABC, ESPN, NBC and the NBC Sports Network. Plug in your ZIP code to the YouTube TV welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area. There is a 10-day trial, and the first three months are discounted to $68 per month for new subscribers.
Read our YouTube TV review.
Live TV streaming services allow you to cancel anytime and require a strong internet connection. Want more information? Check out our guide to live TV streaming services and our picks for the best sports streaming services.
