NBA playoffs for $30 a month
ESPN Unlimited
It’s mid-April, and the NBA playoffs are starting right on schedule. While the playoff calendar hasn’t changed this year, the broadcast schedule has shifted for the 2026 NBA playoffs.
My NBA consumption goes way up during the playoffs, increasing with each subsequent round. I rarely seek out a game to watch during the lengthy, 82-game regular season and wait for the playoff field to be set before I’m ready to sit down and watch a game from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer.
If you’re like me, and your NBA fandom subsists on game highlights, podcasts and catching the occasional second half, fourth quarter or (more likely) the final few minutes of an actual live game, then you’ll need to get yourself acquainted with the new NBA media landscape with the start of the playoffs.
Under the NBA’s new media-rights deal, games this season were split across its three broadcast partners: Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Prime Video). And each of these three entities has a part of the playoffs.
Here’s what you need to know to watch the 2026 NBA playoffs in this new era, starting with the Play-in tournament that begins tonight.
LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets are in action tonight against the Miami Heat in the NBA Play-in tournament on Prime Video.
How to watch the NBA Play-in tournament
The play-in tournament begins with two games tonight followed by two more games tomorrow before concluding with two games on Friday. All six games will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime.
Here’s the Play-in tournament schedule. Each game will stream 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 at 7/8 loser: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Western Conference 9/10 winner at 7/8 loser: 10 p.m. ET
Prime Video will stream the six play-in tournament games this week. It will also have some first- and second-round games through May 17.
Prime Video is included with an Amazon Prime subscription for $15 a month or $139 a year. You can also subscribe only to Prime Video for $9 a month. Read our Prime Video review.
NBA playoff TV schedule
After the play-in games this week, the field of 16 is set for the first round of the NBA playoffs that begins on Saturday.
The channel lineup needed for the NBA playoffs is different this year. Gone are games on TNT and NBA TV. Instead, you’ll need a TV subscription that has ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBC Sports Network — plus Amazon Prime. Or you can go the streaming route and use Prime Video, Peacock and ESPN Unlimited.
NBC/Peacock has the most first-round coverage. It will show up to 23 first-round games and 11 second-round games as well as the Western Conference Finals. Every one of its games will stream on Peacock and also be shown on either 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 stream NBA playoff games from the first round through the Western Conference Finals. Games on Peacock will also appear on NBC or NBC Sports Network, so you don’t necessarily need Peacock to have access to every NBA playoff game.
You can stream every NBA playoff broadcast with Peacock’s $11-a-month Premium plan. Read our Peacock review.
With ESPN Unlimited, you can watch every NBA playoff game that’s on ESPN or ABC. It will have coverage for every round of the playoffs, including the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals.
The ESPN Unlimited plan costs $30 a month (or $300 a year) and lets you 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 a $13-a-month ESPN Select plan, which is basically a rebranding of ESPN Plus. With it, you’ll have access to thousands of live games — think small college conferences, whose games you can’t watch anywhere else — but not the NBA.)
Best live TV streaming service for the NBA Playoffs
If you are already an Amazon Prime subscriber, then you just 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 just relaunched late last year ahead of its coverage of the Winter Olympics.
The five major live TV streaming services — DirecTV, Fubo, Hulu Plus Live TV, Sling and YouTube TV — each carry ABC, NBC and ESPN, but I can find NBCSN only on YouTube TV’s channel listings. So, that’s the pick for the NBA playoffs if you don’t want to miss a game.
YouTube TV costs $83 a month and includes ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBC Sports Network. Plug in your ZIP code on YouTube TV’s 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 a month for new subscribers.
Read our YouTube TV review.
Live TV streaming services allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide and our picks for the best sports streaming services.
