NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed reporters Wednesday in a press conference surrounding the league's preseason board of governor's meeting.
He touched on a number of topics impacting the league at large, including the recent controversy surrounding Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers. Another hot topic which Silver spoke to is the league's new broadcast schedule, which will see games featured on Disney properties like ESPN as well as NBC's Peacock and Amazon's Prime Video.
It's a streaming world, but the need for fans to maintain subscriptions for various streaming platforms simply to watch every NBA game might be a lot to ask for. Per Fox Sports' Rachel Nichols, the commissioner was asked about the rising cost to watch NBA games for fans. He had an interesting response to say the least.
"There's a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free," he said. "I mean this is very much a highlights-based sport. So Instagram, TikTok, Twitter you name it. Any service, the New York Times for that matter to the extent that your content is not behind a paid firewall. There's an enormous amount of content out there. YouTube, another example that is advertising based that consumers can consume."
It's safe to say that fans weren't exactly thrilled his response to the question was to consume highlights for free.
Adam Silver says NBA fans who can’t afford the rising costs can watch the highlights for free 😭😭😭
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) September 10, 2025
pic.twitter.com/1dvfkIkbJF
Adam Silver said follow me on IG. https://t.co/PKxm0hteQy
— Taco Trey Kerby (@treykerby) September 10, 2025
Adam Silver telling you “Get ya money up” is crazy 😭 https://t.co/CBOcQjzXZT
— 🏆LakersGuru🏆 (@GuruLakers) September 10, 2025
Silver did note that with the league's new media deal, the league is going from 15 games on broadcast television to 75, allowing fans to watch more marquee games with only a TV antenna. Here's his full response to the question per Nate Jones:
Of course everyone is running with the aggregated clip of what Adam Silver said instead of what he actually said. Silver said there’s over 75 over the air (aka free.99) games this year. That’s more than they’ve had in over two decades. pic.twitter.com/yxbhAcBpd5
— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) September 10, 2025
ESPN's Tim Bontemps also reported that Silver said that the NBA's three national TV partners (ESPN, Amazon and NBC) met this week to discuss different avenues the sides can work together on moving forward.
What Platforms Will Stream NBA Games This Season?
NBA coverage will look different in the upcoming season as the league's new media rights deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon is slated to begin. That means NBA games will no longer be broadcast on TNT.
The league announced its upcoming schedule last month along with the national broadcast schedule. Monday games will be streamed on Peacock, NBC's streaming service, with Tuesday games on NBC and Peacock. ESPN will broadcast Wednesday matchups. Amazon Prime has Thursdays, with Prime and ESPN games to follow on Fridays. Saturday games will be shown on Prime and ABC, with Sundays on ABC, NBC and Peacock.
According to the league, Thursday games on Prime, Friday games on ABC, ESPN and Prime, plus Sunday matchups on ABC, ESPN and NBC/Peacock will start midseason.
Below outlines the full national broadcast schedule:
Where to watch NBA action this season ⬇️
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) August 14, 2025
Season-long national games:
▪️ Mon: Peacock
▪️ Tue: NBC/Peacock
▪️ Wed: ESPN
▪️ Fri: Prime Video
Additional weekly national games starting midseason:
▪️ Thu: Prime Video
▪️ Sat: ABC | ESPN | Prime Video
▪️ Sun: ABC | ESPN | NBC/Peacock pic.twitter.com/eZgo8viuEX
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Adam Silver Provides Strange Response to Rising Cost of Watching NBA Games.