The 2025 NBA playoffs were a showcase for the future of the league. The Oklahoma City Thunder became the youngest NBA champion in four decades with an average roster age of 24.7, weighted by playoff minutes, according to Basketball-Reference. En route to the title, they defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, led by 24-year-old Anthony Edwards, and the Indiana Pacers, led by 25-year-old Tyrese Haliburton.
Next season, however, the NBA will once again shine the spotlight on older superstars via its national TV and streaming schedule. LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors will each be featured 34 times on the league’s broadcast partners during the 2025-26 season, despite neither team being projected to finish better than 47-35 by oddsmakers. Those teams will have the same number of appearances on ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock or Amazon Prime as the defending champion Thunder.
In fairness, the Lakers are also led by 26-year-old and perennial MVP candidate Luka Doncic, but the NBA’s schedule release on Thursday follows a multi-year pattern. The Lakers and Warriors were awarded the most and third-most national TV games last season, respectively, despite both being projected to win only 43.5 games.
Furthermore, the Houston Rockets’ increase from three national TV games last season to 28 this year after the acquisition of Kevin Durant shows the league’s commitment to propping up its 2010s stars.
That’s not to say the NBA is incapable of recognizing young talent. The Timberwolves jumped from 18 to 28 high-profile games following a second straight conference finals appearance. Fans across the country can catch the San Antonio Spurs’ 21-year-old Victor Wembanyama on 22 occasions, and the Detroit Pistons, featuring 23-year-old Cade Cunningham, will play 16 national TV games this season after just one last year.
Still, some up-and-coming teams got shortchanged. The Cleveland Cavaliers, despite having the fourth-best title odds of any team, will play 24 national TV games—only the ninth-most in the NBA. The Orlando Magic, with the third-best odds to win the East, are in the middle of the pack with 14 such contests. The 2025 runners-up, the Pacers, albeit without Haliburton who will miss the season after an Achilles injury, got only nine—the same number as the Phoenix Suns, who were perhaps the league’s biggest letdown last campaign.
The overall number of games that fans will be able to watch outside of their local markets will be up in 2025-26 under the first year of the NBA’s new media rights package. Between Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon, the league’s media parents will show games on every day of the week once the NFL season concludes.
The games, though, will be spread across two more locations than last year with the addition of steaming services Peacock and Amazon Prime to the rotation. The league has replaced cable channel TNT with the over-the-air NBC, but eager NBA viewers will have to subscribe to Peacock ($10.99 / month) and Amazon ($14.99 / month) to access all the games.