What to know about the NBA-TNT television rights drama

The drama of the National Basketball Association typically plays out on the court, but a battle over who gets to cover the league’s games has prompted legal action from one of the networks currently airing NBA games.

The NBA announced its new television rights deal last week, signing with ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon, but the new contract led one broadcaster not included to file a lawsuit against the league. Here is what to know about the dispute.

What is the current NBA television deal?

Under the current deal, which runs through the 2024-25 NBA season, ESPN/ABC and TNT essentially split the national television rights.

During the regular season, TNT gets the opening night games, the NBA All-Star Game, and games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ESPN/ABC gets Wednesday, Friday, and select Saturday games, in addition to the Christmas Day games, among others, as part of its regular season package.

For the playoffs, the two split the early rounds, with NBA TV also getting a handful of games. TNT gets one conference championship each year, alternating between the Eastern and Western conferences, while ESPN/ABC gets the other conference championship and the NBA Finals.

ESPN/ABC and TNT have split the television rights for the NBA since the 2002-03 season. With TNT’s coverage is the popular studio show Inside the NBA, which features Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley.

What is the new television deal?

The NBA announced last week that it had agreed to a new television contract, for the 2025-26 through 2035-36 seasons, with ESPN/ABC, NBC, Amazon — leaving out TNT.

ESPN/ABC will continue to show games on Wednesday, along with select Saturday and Sunday games and the Christmas Day games, for 80 games during the regular season. The networks will also get the NBA Finals for each year of the contract, along with 18 games each year in the early playoff rounds and conference finals for 10 out of the 11 seasons of the contract.

NBC gets NBA coverage for the first time since 2002, receiving Sunday night and Tuesday games, along with the NBA All-Star game during the regular season. The network also gets the opening night games and two games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, will get Monday night games as part of the package, which will see both NBC and Peacock get 100 regular season games each season. For the playoffs, NBC gets 28 first-round games and a conference championship in six of the 11 seasons of the contract.

Amazon gets NBA coverage for the first time, getting 66 regular season games on Thursdays, Fridays, and select Saturday afternoons. The streaming platform will also cover the NBA Cup, the play-in tournament, roughly a third of early-round playoff games, and a conference championship in six of the contract’s 11 seasons.

The emphasis of the NBA’s announcement was on streaming, with all three network partners having, or being, streaming platforms.

“Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”

TNT Sports claimed it matched Amazon’s offer, noting their contractual right under the current television deal, and said they “do not believe the NBA can reject it” in a statement Wednesday. The network also said they believe the NBA had “grossly misinterpreted out contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond” and teased they would “take appropriate action.”

Why is TNT suing the NBA?

Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, which itself is a division of Turner Broadcasting System, filed a lawsuit against the NBA in state court in New York on Friday.

The lawsuit alleges the NBA “refused to honor TBS’s match” of the deal Amazon had worked out with the NBA.

“TBS timely exercised these matching rights by accepting a Third Party Offer on the same material terms and conditions that the NBA was willing to accept from Amazon. The NBA, however, has breached the Agreement and deliberately refused to honor TBS’s rights, forcing TBS and WBD to seek judicial intervention,” the lawsuit alleges.

Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking the court to declare that TBS matched the Amazon offer, in compliance with their contractual obligation, and that TBS be permitted, via TNT and Max, to distribute the NBA games in the package. It also asked that, if the court cannot come to a ruling prior to the beginning of the 2025-26 season, the NBA be enjoined “from licensing the telecast rights that TBS matched under the Agreement (including the MRE) to Amazon or any other third party.”

What are the potential outcomes of the lawsuit?

If the court sides with Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT and Max would get the package Amazon has agreed to and continue to broadcast the NBA alongside ESPN/ABC and NBC. If the court does not side with Warner Bros. Discovery on its claims, then Amazon would be allowed to move forward with its package and TNT would lose its NBA rights.

Neither outcome would appear to affect ESPN/ABC or NBC’s parts of the deal, as Warner Bros. Discovery has not had a problem with either of those networks’ agreements with the NBA.

Will this affect TNT’s coverage of the 2024-25 NBA season?

Regardless of the lawsuit, TNT will still cover the 2024-25 NBA season, although the relationship between the network and the league will likely be colder than normal.

If TNT is unable to get Amazon’s package via the lawsuit, the final game of the Eastern conference finals in 2025 will be the last NBA game TNT will air for the foreseeable future.