The Playoff Schedule Shows How Little NBA and Its Broadcast Partners Care About the Fans
1. It's bad enough that NBA fans never know which network or platform a playoff game is airing on, but now they have to deal with crazy overlaps, prohibiting them from watching full games.
On Monday, NBC decided to air the Sixers-Knicks game at 8 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. That ended up working out: Because the game was such a blowout, it wasn't a problem for fans to tune into the start of the Timberwolves-Spurs game, which started at 9:30 p.m. and aired exclusively on Peacock.
Tonight, is the real middle finger from NBC. Cavs-Pistons will begin at 7 p.m. on Peacock with the Lakers and Thunder tipping off at 8:30 p.m. on NBC.
I fully understand that NBC couldn't care less about the Cavs-Pistons series, especially compared to Lakers-Thunder. The network wants as much as it can get of the Lakers in prime time. But this is just a slap in the fan to the die-hard NBA fan who wants to watch playoff basketball.
Meanwhile, thanks to the NBA's new broadcast deals, fans have to go on a wild goose chase every night to find the games. For example, the first four games of the Sixers-Knicks series is airing on four different platforms:
Game 1: NBC
Game 2: ESPN
Game 3: Prime Video
Game 4: ABC
The other problem with this scheduling is that viewers get no continuity with broadcasters. Unfortunately, nothing will change going forward since this is just the first year of a new 11-year broadcast deal.
2. If you missed it yesterday, I wrote a column about the legendary voice of the Yankees, John Sterling. There were nonstop tributes for Sterling all day Monday.
• White Sox radio voice Len Casper used Sterling's signature home run call when Munetaka Murakami went deep against the Angels.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Playoff Schedule Shows How Little NBA and Its Broadcast Partners Care About the Fans.
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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 9:05 AM.