NBA on ABC

Television broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games were first broadcast by American broadcast network ABC from January 3, 1965 to May 10, 1973. Broadcasts produced by ABC Sports (later ESPN on ABC) returned on December 25, 2002, this time utilizing the NBA on ABC branding. Since 2006, when ABC Sports was rebranded to ESPN on ABC, the said branding was used less often.

ABC's regular season schedule includes Christmas Day games; NBA Saturday Primetime games on selected weekends from December or January to March; and NBA Sunday Showcase games on selected afternoons from February to March. ABC then airs selected games during the first five weeks of the NBA playoffs and is the exclusive broadcaster of the NBA Finals.

ABC first signed a deal with the NBA to become the league's primary television^[1] partner in 1964;^[2] ABC's first game telecast aired on January 3, 1965^[3] (a game between the Boston Celtics and Cincinnati Royals).^[4] ABC's initial alliance with the NBA first came about due to ABC Sports head Roone Arledge's search for live programming that could diminish the ratings of CBS Sports Spectacular, and ABC's anthology program, Wide World of Sports a boost with sponsors. ABC initially paid the NBA only $650,000 for the rights annually.

For much of the 1960s, ABC only televised Sunday afternoon games, including during the NBA Playoffs. This meant that ABC did not have to televise a potential NBA Finals deciding game if it were played on a weeknight. In 1969, ABC did televise Game 7 of the Los Angeles Lakers–Boston Celtics series in prime time on a weeknight. The following season, ABC aired the 1970 NBA Finals in its entirety, making it the first Finals series to have all games televised nationally.

Commentators for the original NBA on ABC included play-by-play announcers Keith Jackson^[5] and Chris Schenkel,^[6] and analysts Jack Twyman,^[7] Bob Cousy^[8][9] and Bill Russell.^[10] On April 8, 1967, a strike by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) forced ABC Sports producer Chuck Howard and director Chet Forte^[11] to call Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers,^[12] as its regular announcing team were members of the union. Curt Gowdy also served on play-by-play for half of the 1967–68 season.

The first nationally televised Christmas Day NBA broadcast occurred in 1967 when ABC broadcast a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Diego Rockets from the then-San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego. Jerry Gross and Jack Twyman called that particular broadcast for the network. ABC would continue to televise Christmas games through 1972. The remainder of these broadcasts were based on Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Chris Schenkel did play-by-play for ABC during this period except 1970,^[13] when Keith Jackson held that responsibility. Jack Twyman remained as the color commentator for the broadcasts up until 1971 when the position was assumed by Bill Russell.

By 1969, ABC's NBA contract was worth only $3 million. To put things into proper perspective, in 1969, Major League Baseball's television contract with NBC was worth $16.5 million while the National Football League cost CBS about $22 million. ABC had made a bargain in purchasing the television rights to the NBA, considering the league's steady ratings. ABC's ratings for the NBA rose from a 6.0 in 1965 to an 8.2 in 1968.

ABC was by this time, coming increasingly under fire for what was perceived to be a less-than-spectacular presentation of the NBA. Sports Illustrated's Frank Deford^[14] in particular, singled ABC out for their coverage of the 1971 NBA Finals. Deford felt that ABC was making a mistake in trying to cover the NBA the same way that they covered a football game because they were two different games. On that end, Deford wrote that neither ABC's announcers nor cameras were able to isolate the important phases of the game. He added that replays were used only to second-guess officials rather than "capture the grace and precision of the performers". Meanwhile, Deford also criticized play-by-play man Chris Schenkel^[6] in regards to his failure to appreciate the nuances of the game and their halftime shows, which Deford saw as not innovative or imaginative.

The network proposed a contract extension with a modest rights bump in 1972, which was criticized by owners. Reportedly, a powerful bloc of owners in larger TV markets were weary of television, though they understood they needed TV to promote their brand. A major sticking point was attempting to force the prospective winning TV network to air games on Saturdays during the fall and winter, directly in competition with far more popular college football telecasts on ABC. ABC balked at the request.^[15]

ABC lost the broadcast rights to the NBA^[16] to CBS^[17][18][19] after the 1972–73 season,^[20] with the network's initial tenure with the league ending with its last NBA Finals game on May 10, 1973. ABC filled the void left by losing the NBA by counterprogramming Wide World of Sports on Sundays^[21] against CBS' NBA coverage.^[22]

Thank you very much, it's a happy bunch that deserves it. They played extraordinary basketball. I emphasize again, that it's a team of unusual poise - a brilliantly disciplined, brilliantly coached basketball team. And they have won their second NBA title, beating the Los Angeles Lakers tonight 102 to 93. And they won it in '70, came back to win it in '73 beating Baltimore to get into the second round of the playoffs, beat Boston in seven games, and took the Lakers out in five. Willis Reed of the New York Knicks^[23] has been named the MVP of the championship series. He will receive a new automobile from Sport magazine. I like to pay a special respects to Terry O'Neil,^[24] who was our statistician during the season. And so that's the story of NBA basketball and for all of us at ABC Sports, you have a nice summer. Keith Jackson^[25] here at The Forum in Inglewood, California, this has been an ABC Sports presentation.

On December 15, 1973, ABC aired what is considered to be the first^[29] telecast of a regular season college basketball game by a major broadcast network (between UCLA and North Carolina State in St. Louis). ABC televised this game using its former NBA announcing crew of Keith Jackson and Bill Russell.

Bill Russell also provided color commentary for ABC's coverage of basketball at the Summer Olympics in 1972 and 1976.^[30] Russell worked alongside Frank Gifford,^[31] Bill Flemming (who (filled in for Gifford while he did wrestling in 1972), and Curt Gowdy.^[32][33]

And then in the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's season, C.D. Chesley (who controlled the rights to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) at the time) wanted NBC to televise select ACC games as part of its national package as it had done the previous few years. However, NBC wanted to feature intersectional games. This action greatly upset Chesley, who wound up selling the rights to the ACC Tournament final to ABC. ABC would televise the 1978 ACC Tournament final as part of Wide World of Sports. The game, called by Jim Lampley and Bill Russell, marked the first time Duke University's Blue Devils basketball team played on national television.

For ABC's final Summer Olympics to date, which were the 1984 games from Los Angeles, Keith Jackson^[34] provided the play–by–play alongside Digger Phelps^[35] (men) and Ann Meyers^[36][37] (women).

ABC wouldn't begin broadcasting college basketball on a more regular basis until January 18, 1987. In the early years of ABC's regular college basketball coverage, Keith Jackson^[38][39][40] and Dick Vitale^[41][42] were the primary announcing crew, while Gary Bender^[43][44] was the secondary play-by-play announcer behind Jackson. Meanwhile, Al Michaels^[45] did regional games during this period.

Also beginning in 1987 and continuing through 1989, ABC^[46] broadcast the McDonald's Open.^[47] Gary Bender^[48] and Dick Vitale^[49] provided the commentary for ABC's broadcasts. Supplemental coverage was provided by TBS.^[50][51]

From the 1984–85 through 1989–90 seasons, the ABC Radio Network^[52][53] was the official, national radio broadcaster of NBA games, succeeding the Mutual Broadcasting System. ABC Radio was in return, supplanted by Public Interest Affiliates'^[54] (or PIA's^[55]) NBA Radio Network.

Commentators included Fred Manfra^{[56][57][58][59]} on play-by-play and Oscar Robertson^[60] (from 1984 to 1985 through 1985–86), Dick Vitale^{[61][62][63][64]} (from 1986–87 through 1989–90) and Earl Monroe^[65][66] (from 1988–89 through 1989–90) on color commentary. Other announcers included Marv Albert^[67][68] (1989 All-Star Game) and Chick Hearn (1988 All-Star Game) on play-by-play and Rod Hundley (1987 and 1989 All-Star Games), Johnny Most^{[69][70][71][72][73]} (1988 All-Star Game), and Dave Barnett (1986 All-Star Game) on color commentary.

On January 22, 2002, the NBA signed a six-year deal with The Walt Disney Company and Turner Sports, which renewed an existing deal with TNT and allowed ABC and ESPN to acquire the rights to air the NBA's games. ABC and ESPN reportedly paid an average of about US$400 million a season. Technically, ESPN pays the NBA for its broadcast rights and "buys" time on ABC to air select games (this is noted in copyright tags during the end credits after the telecasts, saying "The preceding program has been paid for by ESPN, Inc.").^[74] As part of the agreement, ABC acquired the rights to the NBA Finals, at least 5 other NBA Playoffs games, 15 regular season games (mostly on Sunday afternoons), and NBA Inside Stuff on Saturday mornings.^[75]

For the 2006–07 NBA season, ABC's sports operations were fully integrated into ESPN (rebranding the sports division as ESPN on ABC).^[76] In June 2007, the NBA renewed its television agreement with ESPN and ABC.^[77]

The agreement was renewed in January 2014, extending it through the 2024–25 NBA season.^[78][79] ABC expanded its coverage beginning in the 2015–16 season when ESPN announced that ABC would add a series of eight of Saturday night games to its slate of broadcasts. As a result of this change, ABC no longer aired regular Sunday doubleheaders; doubleheaders ultimately returned in 2022.^[80] Expansion continued in 2021 when ABC began airing coverage of the NBA draft.^[81] On October 2, 2023, it was announced that five Wednesday night games originally scheduled to air on ESPN in January 2024 would be moved to ABC, as part of replacement programming due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.^[82]

The NBA officially renewed its agreement again with ESPN and ABC on July 24, 2024, for another 11 years, taking its coverage through to the 2035–36 season.^[83][84] As part of a separate sublicensing agreement with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, ESPN and ABC gained the broadcasting rights to TNT Sports' Inside the NBA beginning in the 2025–26 season, the first season of their renewed agreement. TNT Sports will continue to produce the show for ESPN and ABC.^{[85][86][87][88]}

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ABC's NBA regular season coverage has typically begun with Christmas Day games, followed by NBA Saturday Primetime and NBA Sunday Showcase on selected weekends starting in mid-January and February, respectively. In 2021–22 and 2022–23, ABC's schedule instead began with a Saturday Primetime game on the second Saturday in December. In 2023–24 and 2024–25, ABC's NBA coverage began with the In-Season Tournament/NBA Cup, knockout rounds also during the second Saturday of December.

When ABC took over the broadcast television deal in 2002, it continued NBC's tradition of televising doubleheaders on Christmas for the most part. However in 2004 and 2006, ABC instead only aired one Christmas game. From 2004 to 2006, ABC also insisted on carrying a Christmas game between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers, featuring their respective players Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. In 2009, ABC's coverage began featuring a music video featuring Mariah Carey performing her hit 1994 single "All I Want for Christmas Is You."^[89][90] In 2010, Carey was also featured singing "Oh Santa!"^[90] From 2017 to 2021, ABC expanded to a tripleheader on Christmas Day. In 2022 all five Christmas Day games were simulcast across both ABC and ESPN, as an attempt to counterprogram the NFL's scheduling of Christmas Day Games across CBS, Fox, and NBC in 2022.^[91] With Christmas Day falling on a Monday in 2023, only two of the five games were ABC and ESPN simulcasts; the early and two evening games were only on ESPN while ABC aired Monday Night Football.^[92] In 2024, after the NFL scheduled Christmas Day games on a Wednesday for the first time, all five of the NBA's games were again simulcast across both ABC and ESPN.^[93][94]

The number of regular season games that ABC normally covers is significantly lower than what NBC broadcasts during its tenure with the league. In its first season of coverage, ABC aired 14 regular-season games, in comparison to NBC's yearly average of 33 games. That number increased to 18 games in the next two seasons (2003–04 and 2004–05), and 20 games in the 2005–06 season. For 2006–07, ABC decreased the number of game telecasts it aired during the season to 19. In a 2002 interview with Jim Rome, NBA commissioner David Stern commented about the number of league games broadcast on ABC:

Cable and satellite (programming is) increasingly available to everybody who wants it. On ABC, you're going to see us on as many or more Sundays during the regular season as NBC is now, but fewer triple-headers and double-headers, and frankly, we think that the triple-headers and double-headers, which we favored in the past, don't work. It's too hard to get people to sit through six and eight-and-a-half hours of NBA on (TV), and it's good to be on cable during the week because that's where our fans are looking for our games.^[95]

By contrast to Stern's assessment, media analysts and many fans found that the cable-heavy television deal made many games unavailable and, in addition, devalued the league. Starting with the second round of the playoffs, TNT's NBA coverage becomes exclusive, meaning that no locally produced league broadcasts can compete against the TNT telecasts (though commensurate with the move to sports rights to cable, few over-the-air local stations currently carried NBA coverage then but as of the 2020s new RSNs were launched through over-the-air rather than cable). Because of this, fans of teams in the playoffs who do not have a cable television subscription are unable to watch most playoff games. In addition, ABC's coverage is always exclusive, including during the regular season. If an ongoing game airs opposite to one televised by ABC, it cannot be televised in the local market, which has the side effect of causing some games to not be aired on television at all. Sports Business Daily quoted Houston Chronicle writer Jonathan Feigen regarding the structuring of the NBA's deal with ABC:

[the NBA] seemed to marginalize the product, treating their sport as small and their playoffs as no more important than one of 162 Atlanta Braves games.

On July 17, 2015, ESPN announced that ABC would move some Sunday afternoon games to be a series of eight Saturday night games to its slate of broadcasts in the 2015–16. The first NBA Saturday Primetime game aired on January 23, 2016. As a result of this change, ABC did not have regular Sunday doubleheaders until 2021 (due to the length of the NBA Sunday Showcase schedule being reduced).^[80] Since 2023, ABC aired its first non-Christmas NBA tripleheader on the final Saturday in January.

Also under the cable-heavy television deals, TNT was awarded the rights to the NBA All-Star Game (from 2003 to 2025) instead of ABC, in addition to renewing its deal for the events of All-Star weekend. The All-Star Game has not aired on over-the-air television since NBC covered the 2002 game, however NBC will return to air All-Star weekend beginning with the 2026 game.

As mentioned previously, ABC aired a series of Wednesday night games in January during the 2023–24 season due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. As these were originally assigned to ESPN, they were non-exclusive games and regional sports networks were permitted to locally air the games alongside ABC.^[82]

Furthermore, ABC only airs selected games during the first three rounds of the playoffs. During the first and second rounds, ABC's schedule includes primetime playoff games, but they usually are only on Friday or Saturday nights. From 2019 to 2023, Friday night first-round playoff games on ABC were considered non-exclusive and may co-exist with broadcasts of regional sports networks of the teams involved (due to the game originally assigned to ESPN2 prior to 2019). From 2005 to 2007, ABC aired Game 4 of ESPN's respective Conference Finals (with all of those airing on Memorial Day). Under NBC's previous deal, Memorial Day playoff games were a yearly tradition on over-the-air television, however ABC aired a weekday conference final Game 4 in 2008 and 2022 and has not aired any more since.

ABC also rarely televises either of the NBA Conference Finals series outside of Game 1 (and from 2008 and 2009 and again since 2022 Game 3), with coverage instead primarily on ESPN, TNT (2003–2025) and NBC/Prime Video (2026–present). ESPN airs one Conference Final exclusively each year, the Eastern Conference Finals in 2003 and every even-numbered year since 2004 and the Western Conference Finals in every odd-numbered year since 2005, while TNT (2003–2025) and NBC/Prime Video (2026–present) gets the other. ABC typically only airs Conference Final matches – whichever one to which ESPN holds the rights in a given year – held on weekends. Due to the checkerboard schedule of the Conference Finals in which each conference plays every other day, ABC is typically only scheduled for a weekend Game 1 (if the series gets pushed up), and then a Game 3 Saturday primetime game in the middle weekend followed by a weekend sixth or seventh game (if necessary). However, Conference Finals series do not often reach a sixth or seventh game. In 2004, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2020, ABC's playoff schedule was scaled back and the network did not air any Conference Finals games at all.^[96]

Conversely, ABC carries over NBC's tradition of exclusively airing the NBA Finals on over-the-air television, which will continue even after NBC was added back in 2024.

ESPN's pregame show, NBA Countdown, airs before each NBA game. It utilizes many of the same crew from ESPN's coverage. Another studio show, Inside the NBA, produced by TNT Sports, will begin airing on ABC beginning in the 2025–26 season, as part of a sublicensing agreement between parent companies The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). This follows a settlement between WBD and the NBA regarding TNT's loss of coverage rights to NBC and Amazon, which led to TNT filing a lawsuit against the league. Inside the NBA is expected to air during Christmas games, the NBA playoffs, and the NBA Finals, as well as all games beginning January 1.

One common complaint about NBA coverage on ABC is the use of unconventional camera angles, including the Floorcam and Skycam angles, used by the network throughout its coverage.^[97] Other complaints^[98] are of camera angles that appear too far away, colors that seem faded and dull, and the quieting of crowd noise so that announcers can be heard clearly (by contrast to NBC, which allowed crowd noise to sometimes drown out their announcers).^[99][100]

Some complaints have concerned the promotion, or perceived lack thereof, of NBA telecasts. The 2003 NBA Finals received little fanfare on ABC or corporate partner ESPN; while subsequent Finals were promoted more on both networks, NBA-related advertisements on ABC were still down significantly from promotions on NBC. NBA promos took up 3 minutes and 55 seconds of airtime on ABC during the week of May 23, 2004 according to the Sports Business Daily, comparable to 2  minutes and 45  seconds for the Indianapolis 500. Promotions for the Indianapolis 500 outnumbered promotions for the NBA Finals fourteen-to-nine between the hours of 9:00 and 11:00;p.m. during that week.^[101]

ABC was also criticized for focusing its coverage on a select number of teams, particularly the decision to broadcast a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat on its Christmas Day schedule for three consecutive years. However, for 2007, ABC decided to break this tradition by instead having the Heat, for the fourth straight time, appear on Christmas Day facing the 2007 Eastern Conference Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers.^[102] In 2008, the Boston Celtics replaced the Heat on the Christmas Day schedule, and faced the Los Angeles Lakers; and in 2009, the Cavaliers played the Lakers on Christmas Day. However, the Heat-Lakers Christmas Day special would make its return in the 2010–11 NBA season, as a result of LeBron James' recent move from the Cavaliers to the Heat. For the 2011–12 NBA season, the Lakers and Heat played again on Christmas Day, but against separate opponents. The Lakers played the Chicago Bulls, while the Heat played the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of the 2011 NBA Finals; both the Bulls and Mavericks made their ABC Christmas Day debuts, which also acted as the league's opening day that season due to the 2011 NBA lockout delaying the start of the season. In the case of the latter, ABC aired the pre-game championship ring and banner ceremony for the Mavericks, which marked the first time in NBA history that a national broadcast network televised the ceremony.

After the 1990s (when the NBA arguably reached its highest point in terms of popularity) many hardcore and casual fans began to associate the league with NBC, and more accurately, NBC's theme music, "Roundball Rock". After ABC took over the NBA coverage from NBC, "Roundball Rock" composer John Tesh offered his iconic theme song to the new rightsholder, but ABC turned it down and told Tesh that they wanted a completely different song.^[103] Whereas NBC used "Roundball Rock" for all twelve years of its coverage, ABC ended up using at least nine themes in its first four years. Three of the themes were traditional sports themes, while six of them ('We Got Hoops" by Robert Randolph and the Family Band, "Can't Get Enough" by Justin Timberlake,^[104] "Let's Get It Started" by The Black Eyed Peas, "Lose My Breath" by Destiny's Child, "This Is How a Heart Breaks" by Rob Thomas and "Runnin' Down a Dream" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) were contemporary pieces by known artists.

For the 2006–07 NBA season, ESPN began using "Fast Break", the theme music used for ABC's NBA broadcasts since 2004, as the theme for its own NBA games. Because of the reorganization of ABC Sports under the oversight of ESPN, and its 2006 rebranding as ESPN on ABC (which calls for all sporting events aired on ABC to utilize the same production elements as ESPN's sports telecasts), this means that games broadcast on ABC will use the same theme music from previous years. In addition, ABC selected pop group The Pussycat Dolls to perform "Right Now" as the new introduction for NBA games.^[105]

For the 2008 season, "Nine Lives" by Def Leppard and Tim McGraw was used as the new intro song for ABC's game broadcasts, and was also used by ESPN during the playoffs before the start of each game. For the 2012 NBA Playoffs, the revised version of the 1972–73 theme was introduced, incorporating features of the current NBA players from going back from the previous year to years past during the network's tenure with the NBA.

For the 2011 NBA postseason, ESPN used an updated composition of the "Fast Break" theme music for the postseason, yet the original composition was still used for the regular season through the 2015-16 NBA season.

For the 2016-17 NBA season, ESPN used another updated composition of the "Fast Break" theme music. This time, for the regular season, replacing the original composition that was first used by ABC in the 2004–05 season and by ESPN two seasons later. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly's "Before I Let Go" was added to start the courtside play-by-play commentary.

To go along with ESPN's rebranding of their NBA coverage prior to the 2022-23 season, a new theme was composed and introduced. A remixed version of this theme is used during the NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals.

NBA Saturday Primetime debuted during the 2015–16 season, and began on January 23, 2016. It features marquee matchups of the league's most prominent teams. Games air every Saturday at 8:30 pm (ET), although additional games may air on earlier timeslots. From its inception, the games had been called by Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson.^[106] On the other hand, NBA Sunday Showcase airs on Sunday afternoons. It typically begins on Super Bowl Sunday, but in 2021, it began two weeks after Super Bowl LV on February 21, 2021. From 2020 until 2023, the games were primarily called by Mark Jones and Doris Burke.^[107]

In August 2023, ESPN announced that the new lead broadcast team of Breen, Doris Burke, and Doc Rivers would call NBA Saturday Primetime games starting with the 2023–24 season, while the then-newly-formed second core broadcast team of Ryan Ruocco, JJ Redick, and Richard Jefferson would were assigned to NBA Sunday Showcase games.^[108] However, Rivers would later leave before the Saturday Primetime series began, leaving only Breen and Burke on the lead team. The second core team of Ruocco, Redick, and Jefferson only called one Sunday Showcase game before Redick joined Breen and Burke on the lead team, calling games for the remainder of the season (and by extension, Saturday Primetime) until the 2024 NBA Finals.^[109] Redick later left to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

For the 2024–25 season, Jefferson joined Breen and Burke on the lead team on a rotational basis. This later became permanent in February 2025. The 2025 edition of NBA Sunday Showcase began with what would be Hubie Brown's final NBA broadcast on February 9, 2025. Brown was accompanied by Mike Breen, his longtime partner, and the broadcast also featured a virtual appearance from former NBA commentator Mike Tirico, Brown's other longtime partner. Succeeding broadcasts feature either Mark Jones or Dave Pasch as play-by-play commentator, with a rotational set of analysts.