Brace Yourselves: I Calculated the Cost of Watching the NBA on TV, and It’s Not Pretty

Living in Utah has its perks. The snow is magical, there’s barely any traffic, and I get to hang out with the love of my life every day.
But as a Los Angeles native and a big fan of the Lakers, living in Utah suuuuuuuuucks—because I can’t easily watch my favorite NBA team play during the regular season. I’m relegated to national TV games. That’s fine and all, but I simply want the ability to watch all 82.

There are thousands upon thousands of people in my situation—and I’m not just talking about Californians who have recently moved to Utah. NBA fans all over the country don’t have as much access to their teams as they’d like. And with the league’s new media deal that replaced TNT with NBC and added Amazon Prime Video, fans might need a map—and a significant chunk of change—to watch games in 2025 and beyond.

Why is it so complicated to watch NBA games now?

The NBA recently released its full schedule for the 2025–2026 season. What’s most intriguing—and frustrating—about that news is how the league carved up its broadcast windows.

Basically, the NBA will have nationally televised games every day of the week, on five different channels or services: ABC, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, NBC, and Peacock. The league released a social media graphic illustrating the new TV schedule, which was immediately roasted by fans online. The reason? Well, it’s kind of a lot.

What are all the ways I can watch NBA games in 2025?

How to watch an out-of-market NBA team

For out-of-market fans like me, things get tricky—fast.

The RSN dedicated to covering the Lakers is Spectrum SportsNet. While a standalone Spectrum SportsNet+ subscription costs $19.99 per month, there’s literally no way for me to get that in Utah. So, if I want to catch any Lakers games that aren’t on national TV, I need NBA League Pass. In fact, any out-of-market fan should have League Pass.

And as I already mentioned, for national TV games, I have to find a way to get those five separate channels on top of League Pass. It already sounds expensive. Let’s see if it really is.

How much would it cost to watch NBA games in 2025?

Watching your favorite NBA team on TV for an entire season can cost anywhere from $64.00 to upwards of $140.00 per month, depending on your setup. To help make sense of that huge price range, here are four words I bet you never thought you’d see in an article about basketball.

Let’s. Do. Some. Math!

For my case study as an out-of-market Lakers fan, the first required purchase is a single-team NBA League Pass plan, which I’ll use as my baseline at $13.99 per month. Now for the tricky part: figuring out how to get all the nationally televised games.

To find the true cost of watching all 82 games of my favorite NBA team, I’ve broken down three possible viewing options below. We’ll look at a traditional cable plan, an all-in-one streaming service, and a scrappy à la carte TV setup.

Kickin’ it old school with a traditional cable plan

Basically, any cable or satellite provider (in Utah, my choices are Xfinity, DIRECTV, and DISH) will get me ABC, NBC, and ESPN. Xfinity’s Ultimate TV plan includes NBA TV, which will cover any random games that end up on that channel. That plan costs a whopping $117.60 per month, but includes Peacock Premium—the $10.99 per month tier that has live sports—at no extra cost. And I still need Amazon Prime Video, which costs $8.99 per month on its own.

This option carries a total monthly bill of $140.58 per month for League Pass, Xfinity TV, and Prime Video. Yeesh. For context, my cell phone bill is about $115.00 per month.

DIRECTV is less than Xfinity at just $89.99 per month, but it doesn’t include Peacock Premium. So it would cost $123.96 per month for a combination of DIRECTV, League Pass, Peacock Premium, and Prime Video. Better, but still more than my cell phone bill. Replace DIRECTV with DISH’s America’s Top 200 plan that has NBA TV, and the monthly cost is basically the same as the Xfinity example, minus a few dollars.

The all-in-one streaming option

But, like many nowadays, I’m a cord-cutter. I don’t want Xfinity, DIRECTV, or DISH—sorry, not sorry. That means I’ll need a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Stream with DIRECTV.

YouTube TV is the only service of the three that includes NBA TV with its main package, so I’ll shell out the $82.99 per month for that. Then I’d need Prime Video and Peacock Premium. Luckily, I can get League Pass as an add-on through YouTube TV. Unluckily, it costs $3.00 more per month than the single-team version of League Pass. But I’m paying for convenience, so pas de problème.

In this case, YouTube TV with League Pass, Prime Video, and Peacock Premium comes out to $119.96 per month. Getting better.

Before I forget: In-market NBA cord-cutters who need RSNs can subscribe to Stream with DIRECTV or Fubo. Just know that these will increase your total monthly cost with regional sports fees.

The hectic “build-your-own” approach

OK, now let’s get weird and say I didn’t want all the extra channels that come with YouTube TV. Let’s say I literally only wanted to watch the Lakers and nothing else. In that case, I would need League Pass, an over-the-air (OTA) antenna to get ABC and NBC, ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service that costs $29.99 per month, Prime Video, and Peacock Premium.

All that comes out to just $63.96 per month. Then there’s the one-time cost of an OTA antenna, which is generally about $40–$50 for a quality one (check out our Best OTA Antennas guide). That is, by far, my cheapest—and most unrealistic—option.

What is the best way to watch NBA games in 2025?

I recommend going with a combination of services that best suits your viewing preferences, location, and budget. And let’s face it: No one watches just sports and nothing else, and no one wants to fork over their 401 (k) just to watch NBA games.

So, to me, your top option is the one anchored by YouTube TV. It creates the least amount of strife due to the relatively small number of apps you’ll need to watch every game of your favorite NBA team, and it solves for the random NBA TV matchup.

Unfortunately, YouTube TV is not perfect because it offers very few RSNs. If you live in an area where you absolutely need one, you’d be better served by either DIRECTV or Fubo. But again, they cost more by themselves, and you’ll need more apps to bridge the content gap.

To keep costs as low as possible, I recommend the Xfinity Sports & News TV plan, which costs $70.00 per month and includes Peacock Premium. Based on the services already mentioned in this piece, the total monthly cost is $92.98. Getting that number under a hundred bucks feels waaaaaaay more doable, and I’ll still get access to virtually every game from my favorite NBA team. I think you will, too.

Caveat: While Xfinity is widely available across the U.S., it’s not in every neighborhood. For the most comparable deal, I suggest checking your local provider options and trying to replicate what I did as closely as possible. Start by using our service-finder tool below.

Cost of watching NBA games FAQ

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