Christmas Day! Many fans around the sports world consider this to be the first day of the NBA calendar. The league has often owned the holiday until the NFL began to infringe. Even though we’re a third of the way through the 2025-26 season, a lot of fans will be tuning into the national TV slate on Thursday. Casual sports fans start paying more attention to the NBA on this day with the spectacle of it all.

Broadcasting that spectacle is an expensive venture. The NBA got $76 billion over 11 years from Disney (ABC/ESPN), NBC (including Peacock) and Amazon Prime in its most recent national television deal. While Disney, the only holdover from the last deal, will broadcast all five Christmas games, other outlets have marquee spots throughout the season. This new broadcasting plan has been a big topic among NBA diehards, and we’ve seen a change in the landscape with how games are televised.

How is that landscape looking? Let’s dive into what new NBA eyes might be seeing on Christmas and moving forward.

Prime Video

Amazon Prime, which aired the knockout round of the NBA Cup and will broadcast the Play-In Tournament in April, was the biggest addition to the NBA world this season, essentially replacing Turner Sports. Prime had massive, Shaq-sized shoes to fill and brought in incredible announcers such as the GOAT Kevin Harlan, Ian Eagle and Michael Grady to call the games. Stan Van Gundy, Brent Barry, Dell Curry and others are giving great color commentary. Cassidy Hubbarth, Allie Clifton and Kristina Pink have done the sideline reporting.

And most importantly, the studio show, which we’ll get to shortly, has been a welcome addition to the discussion landscape.

What’s working? The game broadcast is an exceptionally clean presentation. The score bug looks great, the stats that pop out of it add to the game rather than distract, and the graphics are sharp. Everything leading into tip-off looks smooth, indicating significant direction from the production truck. I don’t know if the cameras are of better quality than what other broadcasts use, but this is definitely the clearest presentation. We don’t have issues with bad camera angles either.

Most importantly, the basketball conversations are fun. It just sounds like they genuinely enjoy and are interested in the product. Nothing feels obligatory. A lot of that feels like the play-by-play announcer setting the tone and, aside from the occasional Van Gundy tangent (which are usually great anyway), the conversation remains on basketball.

What needs work? Amazon has highlighted deeper stats such as shot difficulty, defensive box scores and gravity. I don’t love the implementation of these stats and how readily available they are within the broadcast. Amazon made a big deal about these additions to how much they’d change the viewing experience. I haven’t found that they show those stats often enough, or clearly enough, to do that. Finding games can be oddly clunky. As a basketball nerd, my algorithm should always have these games at the forefront of the Amazon Prime app. That isn’t always the case. They could work on notifications for ongoing or upcoming games, as more casual fans won’t always make the effort to find the games.

Those are largely nitpicks and surface-level complaints, though.

How’s the studio show? This has been the biggest boon to the NBA broadcast — not just with Amazon, but to the entire landscape. This studio show is, by far, the best one available, and it’s barely scratched the surface of its potential. Taylor Rooks, Udonis Haslem, Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin and Steve Nash are doing a wonderful job of creating what basketball and sports fans crave in a studio show. They’re cycling in Candace Parker, John Wall and Chris Haynes without taking a chemistry hit.

Every little touch is an A-plus on there. It looks great from a setup perspective. All of the panelists are smartly placed. The conversation is critical but not in a way that bashes the product. There isn’t some massive “back in my day” diatribe happening, which was my only complaint of the “Inside The NBA” show during its Turner run. This studio show is great with interviewing players. It’s great when discussing the games. It’s great discussing what’s happening in the league. Most of all, the panel is awesome at breaking down on-court play with its half-court set.

They recognize that they have Nowitzki, one of the greatest shooters of all time, on their roster. He’ll give shooting tips in a way that actually teaches you about form without needing to use gimmicks to do so. This studio show will get better as they get more time together, but it seems impossible that something so good can improve.

Overall feeling: This has been my favorite broadcast of the season and has universally been the favorite among my friends and colleagues I’ve spoken to about it.

NBC/Peacock

After decades away, NBC (and now its streaming app, Peacock) is back broadcasting games. People of my generation and older lost their minds on opening night when NBC hit us with the old laser show presentation of the NBA on NBC and John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” blaring through the speakers. Nostalgia hits hard with that, and it helped bring things back to a fun time of basketball in the ’80s and ’90s.

This roster includes Mike Tirico, Noah Eagle and Grady for play-by-play. In-game analysts include Reggie Miller, Vince Carter, Jamal Crawford and more. Maria Taylor is the lead sideline reporter, and some of the broadcasts have also included former players such as Robbie Hummel and Austin Rivers sitting on the benches for a different perspective.

What’s working? The nostalgia definitely works. It triggers something within our basketball-loving brains that brings us back to the days of Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and more dancing all over NBC broadcasts during primetime games — especially if you’re 40 or older. But nostalgia can only get you so far. NBC/Peacock also does a good job of keeping things clean with the presentation of the game. The screen isn’t cluttered, and it’s rare that anything unnecessary pops up. We rarely lose things in real time because of poor timing on replays or cutaways.

The conversation is really good. Crawford and Carter are among my favorite in-game analysts regardless of platform, and their insight and perspective offer so much. Sometimes, just keeping the broadcast of the game simple, without gimmickery, is the correct call. NBC does that. The network has been doing broadcast sports the longest of any of these platforms, and it shows.

What needs work? I think there’s something there with in-game analysts sitting on the bench to offer a different perspective from your traditional broadcast setup. There are times I really like it, and there are times it feels disorienting or distracting. I don’t want to crush it or say any of it is awful for the broadcast experience. They’ll eventually fine-tune it and find a way to make it a very valuable portion of the viewing. It just isn’t there yet.

Also, some of the conversations during games can feel a little too much like they’re trying to do something different, rather than just doing something unique. Some of that is just working out chemistry with the new commentary combinations. The score bug can be a little cumbersome. Overall, even the “bad stuff” within the broadcasts isn’t actually bad. It’s just stuff that needs work.

How’s the studio show? If it weren’t for Amazon’s studio show, I think a lot of us would be raving about NBC’s version. I love when they have Taylor, Carmelo Anthony, Carter and Tracy McGrady in-studio. It’s a great mixture of recently retired players who have accomplished incredible things in the NBA. They don’t do quite as good a job in breaking down the action, but I enjoy their conversations.

There is no way around this: Derek Fisher occasionally joins the crew, and it makes me miss T-Mac/Vince/Melo. They have a great flow together. Carter talking about bringing in the right people for the dunk contest was one of my favorite segments from any studio show this year.

Overall feeling: I’m glad NBC isn’t relying on just nostalgia and being lazy about presentation. Not all of the new stuff is working, but they’re not just sticking to the status quo. NBC has a great mix of talent, with the potential for this to be the best platform. I’m very interested to see how coverage gets integrated into the upcoming Winter Olympics. (The All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday night will also air on NBC in February.)

ESPN/ABC

In case you need a reminder, here is the Christmas slate on ESPN/ABC (all times Eastern):

Cavaliers at Knicks, noon
Spurs at Thunder, 2:30 p.m.
Mavericks at Warriors, 5 p.m.
Rockets at Lakers, 8 p.m.
Timberwolves at Nuggets, 10:30 p.m.

ESPN/ABC is the holdover from the previous broadcasting deal. I don’t want to rehash too much of the critiquing (both positive and negative) from past years. It’s the same talent as before but with an update to the “A” team, with Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson joined by Tim Legler, who replaced Doris Burke. And then there’s a mixture of the other announcing talent in subsequent broadcast pairings.

What’s working? I love the addition of Legler. He’s one of the best, if not the absolute best, at breaking down what’s happening in real time. A lot of the stats, info and graphics shared on ESPN broadcasts are still some of the best and most interesting in the business. I find the sideline reporting, whether it’s Lisa Salters, Jorge Sedano or Katie George, to actually add to the broadcast.

Their in-game interviews are still mostly good in an environment that can be tough to extract anything worthwhile from the couple of questions allowed. ESPN does a fine job with how clean things look, although some of the camera angles, such as the opposite baseline view during play, and replay choices/timing can be rough.

What needs work? Sometimes it feels as if the broadcasters are actively trying to implement notes and tips from some training they likely didn’t need to “improve” their performance. It comes off as clunky and trying to be the show, rather than just broadcasting the game. I don’t blame the talent there. I blame the production happening away from the games themselves. Forced catchphrases aren’t needed. The personalities can shine on their own.

Lulls in the game become tired referendums on the state of the league far too often. I don’t want the commentators carrying water for the league on broadcasts, but there’s too much tearing it down instead of actually discussing what’s happening on the court. It feels forced and is distracting.

How’s the studio show? The implementation of the “Inside the NBA” crew has been maybe the most disappointing aspect of the broadcasts. It was a big deal that the longtime fan favorite was being saved and moved from TNT to ESPN. Nothing was going to be touched. Other than the ESPN logo, nothing else was supposed to change.

The crew, however, has only done a few shows before Christmas. Frequency is supposed to ramp up the rest of the season and in the playoffs. But it feels choppier, perhaps because of the lighter schedule hurting their rhythm. At the same time, ESPN’s homegrown studio shows for NBA games have been lacking for years. No conversations are being had; it’s just soundbites being forced into the small windows when people are allowed to speak before we get to another commercial break. “Inside the NBA” was supposed to be a nice reprieve from that. It has not been yet.

Overall feeling: The playoffs will be big, and ESPN/ABC has the tools to deliver. We know the NBA Finals are going to be on ABC and ESPN. The A team will do great. And the “Inside the NBA” crew will hopefully be in their expected form. The ESPN approach just needs to learn from what other platforms are doing and make this more about the consumer and product than the broadcaster itself.

Overall

If you’ve been able to spend the money to lock into Amazon, NBC/Peacock and ESPN/ABC to consume all of these platforms outside of NBA League Pass, I think you’re getting an improved experience this season. That’s tough to do considering how good Turner Sports was with the NBA conversation and presentation. We’re so early into this new deal that I have a lot of hope for how all of this will look even a year from now.

The NBA, however, could use some help in figuring out how to make this more affordable to consumers. I have diehard NBA fan friends who still miss certain games of their favorite teams because they don’t subscribe to all of these services.

For now, the NBA consumer should have a great viewing experience on Christmas and moving forward.