If there’s one media storyline through the first week of the NBA season, it’s just how much new rights partners NBC and Amazon have lifted the broadcasts.
Both the NBC and Amazon productions have been praised for their use of new voices, freesh production ideas, and treating the league with the same respect and sincerity as most all networks do for their football coverage. It seems like in just one week, NBA coverage has become instantly more enjoyable, informational, and beneficial for basketball fans. ESPN has also made some steps forward, but that mainly comes through the licensing deal with Inside the NBA. We’ll see how their coverage is maintained now that the “A” show is taking an extended vacation with only one more appearance before Christmas Day.
One person who is impressed is Dan Le Batard. On his eponymous show, the Miami host lauded NBC’s coverage of this week’s Bucks-Knicks game and how NBC made it feel like a big deal with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jalen Brunson leading the way. He also commended Amazon for unlocking Udonis Haslem, who seemed like a completely different personality for the streamer than he did at ESPN.
NBA broadcasts are finally changing for the better pic.twitter.com/49CfGUDCie
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) October 29, 2025
“Nobody could be Inside the NBA, but they could never actually get right the thing that you’re talking about, which is simply for example unlocking Udonis Haslem. I enjoyed Giannis against Brunson and the Knicks so much last night. And it was different, it felt different than what I’m used to with my broadcasts,” Le Batard said.
“Usually most things are so familiar in sports that when something’s different there’s almost an initial visceral reaction to ‘I don’t like that better, it’s too different.’ I noticed the difference in the broadcast and I appreciated last night specifically, just on a random Tuesday night Giannis and Brunson watching the end of the game and it feeling different than all the other broadcasts I’ve been watching for 20 years.”
Meadowlark Media personality Amin Elhassan then relayed his personal experience from working at ESPN and saying that it’s all about the effort that the networks and producers are putting into the telecasts. He said that at SportsCenter, producers would spend much more time with the network’s NFL analysts than their NBA counterparts.
“When I’m in the green room and there are NFL guys, the producers will come downstairs and sit with these guys for up to 30 minutes sometimes watching film. ‘Oh, should we use this clip, what are you seeing in this Cover-2, like actual analysis they are trying to produce for the segment. For me and other NBA analysts, it’s not just me, it was Tim Legler, it was everyone else who did NBA, you just get a bunch of really rote questions about, ‘hey, what do you think the Knicks need to do to get over.’ There was no investment in it,” he said.
Listening to Elhassan, it’s no wonder why the network’s NFL and NBA coverage has looked so different over the years. It’s why ESPN can spend hours breaking down the intricacies of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen’s quarterback play while defaulting to some banal “face of the league” debate about the NBA. ESPN has turned the corner somewhat thanks to highlighting more of Tim Legler and his Xs and Ox brilliance. And hopefully with NBC and Amazon raising the bar, that kind of content continues to flourish in Bristol, too.