In what will likely be its final schedule, NBA on TNT is kicking off the season with a bang. TNT is airing the first two games of the NBA season, with the New York Knicks taking on the Boston Celtics and the Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Los Angeles Lakers on opening night.
TNT will also broadcast the San Antonio Spurs-Dallas Mavericks game (an anticipated European duel with Victor Wembanyama against Luka Dončić) and a duel for the MVP award finalist between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder against Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets. In total, TNT has the rights to four of the 11 NBA games during the first week of the season.
This season will likely be the NBA’s last on TNT: As of now, TNT has been left out of the NBA’s new media deal, ending 35 years of NBA coverage by the company.
The NBA announced its new streaming rights deal in late July, renewing a deal with ESPN but also agreeing to a deal with NBC and Amazon Prime. TNT had the opportunity to match Amazon’s portion of the deal but was unsuccessful. The deal, worth many billions of dollars, will last for the next 11 seasons starting in 2025.
The fact that TNT was not picked up also means the end of the fan-favorite NBA analysis show, “Inside the NBA.” After the media deal was reported, “Inside the NBA” host Charles Barkley said he’s “not sure TNT ever had a chance.”
So far, TNT’s future with the NBA remains uncertain: After failing to match Amazon’s share, TNT and its parent company Warner Bros Discovery said in a statement statement who will continue to challenge that decision, claiming that the stipulations of his previous contract mean the NBA cannot reject his matching offer.
For now, though, fans have one more season to enjoy. In addition to the season opener week, other highlights of TNT’s programming include an NBA Finals rematch between the Mavericks and Celtics on Feb. 6, several key NBA Cup matchups and a host of interconference rivalries.
The rest of the NBA programming on TNT can be found here.
