NBA on ESPN Live Stream Guide | Watch NBA Games on ESPN

NBA Wednesday - ESPN Doubleheader

ESPN airs back-to-back prime time NBA games most Wednesday nights of the regular season. The first game starts at 7:30 or 8pm ET and the second game directly follows, two and a half hours later. The league has made an effort to make coast-to-coast doubleheaders air earlier, so most NBA Wednesday broadcasts now start at 7:30pm.

NBA Wednesday's pregame show will be a 30-minute, special version of ESPN's SportsCenter, airing just prior to tip-off. This pregame show will only air when games start at 7:30pm on Wednesday nights. Hosts and analysts change on a rotating basis. 

Stream NBA on ESPN games live online from any smartphone, tablet or streaming device. Or watch ESPN on NBA games live on your TV today with our complete guide that helps you best select between all the cable, satellite and internet TV plans on the market that carry ESPN. Live stream links and app downloads provided throughout.

Watch/Stream NBA on ESPN Games

ESPN airs close to a hundred NBA regular season games using their 'NBA on ESPN' branding. They also cover many first and second round playoff games, including exclusive coverage of one of the conference championship series.

The typical broadcast schedule for NBA on ESPN is a doubleheader (back-to-back games) on Wednesday and Friday nights during the regular season. There will be exceptions for holidays and if ESPN needs to juggle multiple prime time games from other sports; they have broadcasting rights to a great many NBA games but can pass games off to NBA-TV for any given game. And sometimes ESPN will air games on Sundays and Mondays toward the end of the regular season, so they can also cover college basketball.

Watch all NBA games airing on ESPN with the WatchESPN website; works on every browser. Or use the ESPN app with is compatible with Apple/Android phones/tablets and many other streaming devices like Roku players, smart TV's, etc. **Cable credentials required to access live streams.

*Flex Scheduling of NBA Games on ESPN

ESPN has the ability to flex schedule NBA games, meaning they can change the game they air any given night, in any time slot for a better match-up. ESPN has to give viewers at least 2 weeks notice if they decide to flex a game. This happens a handful of times during the season especially toward the end of the season. And in the last week before the playoffs, they only have to give 1 week's notice - so they can ensure great match-ups with playoff implications make it to prime time.

NBA Friday - ESPN Doubleheader

ESPN airs NBA doubleheaders most Friday nights during the season. Tip-off starts at 7:00 or 7:30pm ET. The second game airs directly after the first, 2 1/2 hours later.

The pregame show, NBA Countdown, starts one-hour prior to the game. ESPN has a history of retooling NBA pregame shows in general because they have so many varying broadcasts in different time slots. Currently Maria Taylor hosts and she's joined by Jay Williams and Jalen Rose, and often Richard Jefferson and Paul Pierce. Adrian Wojnarowski is a consistent contributor to NBA Countdown as well. 

NBA on ESPN Playoffs

ESPN airs dozens of NBA Playoffs games each season from the first round on through to the Conference Finals. They split broadcasting rights with TNT, NBA-TV to air first round NBA playoff games. They share rights with TNT when it comes to broadcasting the Semifinals. And ESPN gets exclusive rights to air one of the conference championship series.

TNT gets the other conference finals series. For years ending in even numbers ESPN airs Eastern Conference Finals, and for odd numbers they get the Western Conference Finals. Vice versa for TNT.

The pregame show for NBA on ESPN playoff games will either be NBA Countdown or Hoop Streams, which is an on-site digital show that's reserved for the most high profile NBA match-ups.

NBA Countdown is hosted by Maria Taylor and she's joined by analysts Jay Williams, Jalen Rose, Richard Jefferson and Paul Pierce along with other contributors. And Hoop Streams is hosted by Cassidy Hubbarth, with analysts Kendrick Perkins and a large, rotating supporting cast.