Armed with several well-known hardwood stars, the NBA on NBC returned to airwaves this season with positive reviews and strong ratings.
In the NBA system, the game is represented by two separate yet equally important groups: those partaking in the game and the past, present legends at the broadcast table calling those exploits. These are their stories.
The NBA on NBC revival is reaching its first season finale and its shaping up to be one of the network's most talked-about closer since Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer went on trial: the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are in full swing with the former leading the best-of-series set 2-1. Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday night near the Alamo (8:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock) after Oklahoma City took a 123-108 Game 3 decision behind a 26-point breakout for newly-recrowned MVP Shail Gilgeous-Alexander.
"These two teams have risen to the top of the mountaintop. I think we’re in for an epic series," former sixth man extraordinaire and current NBC Sports analyst Jamal Crawford said in a conference call at the onset of the series, shortly after the Spurs earned a double overtime decision on the road. "I don’t think [Game 1] could have gone any better. It was hard to go to sleep just thinking about some of the things we saw. We saw some historic things from Victor Wembanyama for sure, and just the high-level play and how each possession meant something. I think we’re in for a heavyweight fight, these next games."
The NBA on NBC intro….
— SleeperHoops (@Sleeper_Hoops) October 21, 2025
CHILLS.
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Roundball Rock's Return
NBC was one of two media partners joining the NBA for the 2025-26 ride. While it was the maiden voyage for fellow newcomer Amazon and its Prime Video streaming division, the hype of NBC's entry was exacerbated further by the memories of its prior incarnation: modern basketball fans fondly recall NBC's 12-season run with the Association at the turn-of-the-century (1990-2002) to this day.
The network heavily leaned into the nostalgia in its first revival, headlined by the return of the iconic instrumental theme known as "Roundball Rock," composed by John Tesh. It went all-in on the throwback phenomenon during its doubleheader coverage on March 2, which utilized graphics and commentators (i.e. Bob Coasts, Doug Collins, and Mike Fratello) from the previous version's heyday.
Crawford, paired with with Reggie Miller and Mike Tirico on the WCF call, believed that the best brand of nostalgia came from the presumed basics: making the game and its sneaker-wearers the stars.
"I thought being a kid growing up, listening to the NBA on NBC, the storytelling aspect of it brings you closer to the game," Crawford said. "I think it brings the fan in to want to watch the game. It makes it feel more like an event versus it being just another game."
"The fact that I think we’ve gotten away from just allowing the game to be the game and players to be players, we go along with that journey and speak what’s in front of us, we [as broadcasters] got away from that," concurred Carmelo Anthony, who took on NBC studio coverage in his first showcase after his Hall-of-Fame playing career ended in 2023. "I think what NBC was able to do was just put the team together, put the crews together, put the studio, put everybody together and allow everybody to just go out there and do what they do, which is play the game of basketball and to uplift the game again because for so long I don’t think the game was being uplifted."
Basketball fans welcomed back NBC's return to the pros with open arms according to data released by the league: among the highlights were a debut average audience of 5.6 million tuning in to opening nigh doubleheader as well as the largest All-Star Game crowd since 2011.
One week after the multi-pronged exhibition (featuring a new "USA vs. the World" format that coincided with NBC's coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics), NBC brought about the NBA's largest Sunday night audience since April 2017, as another batch of over five million tuned into latest iteration of the Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry. It was also the most-watched non-Christmas NBA regular season game since 2017.
NBC's Second Quarter
It's one year down and a decade to go for NBC as part of the NBA's new media deal. Though it's alternating conference finals postings with Amazon, it will continue to continue to carry hardwood holidays showcases such as almost all of All-Star Weekend and Martin Luther King Jr. Day (a Presidents' Day package will be added to the gauntlet next year).
Asked where the network can go from here, Crawford would love to see the "On the Bench," coverage, which situated game analysts next to each partaking team's bench to offer a unique perspective on the game.
"I think it brings the fan in to want to watch the game. It makes it feel more like an event versus it being just another game," Crawford said of the network's "storytelling" efforts. "I think NBC does the absolute best with that, and they always have. Having these legends in every arena, from the studio to Reggie Miller, Grant Hill, these guys calling games as well has brought the past, present, and future to this new generation, to the new fans, to the fan that’s watched them."
"We'll continue to bring the “On the Bench,”, maybe bring that a little more present, where you can get that feel following a team with a certain person telling that side of the story. It brings you closer to the huddle, closer to the locker room. So for me personally, I’ll end it with saying I thought that was great, and I think we should see more of that."
If anything, the NBC talent appears confident that superteams can wear both shorts and headsets, as Anthony's fellow studio face Tracy McGrady lauded the chemistry he built with his fellow legends of the game and host Maria Taylor in year one.
"I can’t tell you how amazing it feels to form chemistry with your peers," McGrady, no doubt used to strong various forms of rapport through a lengthy Hall-of-Fame career of his own. "We’re family, man. I know we haven’t completed our first year, but we all respect one another’s craft. When we come into the studio to vibe, we completely have just really formed a camaraderie that we can see lasting ten years. This is something that’s special, that we’ve built, and we're continuously going to build on this."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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