The NBA has announced the broadcast schedule for the league’s inaugural In-Season Tournament, with group play games set to begin on Friday, November 3rd.
Each team will participate in four of these matchups, which will be played on seven Tuesdays and Fridays throughout the month of November. The team with the best record from each group, along with one Wild Card team from each conference, will advance to the quarterfinals, all of which will be broadcast on TNT and streaming live on Max.
Quarterfinal games will be played in NBA team markets, with two games taking place per day on Monday, December 4th, and Tuesday, December 5th. The exact start times of these matchups are to be determined. However, the early game will start at either 7 or 7:30 PM ET, while the late game will commence at either 9:30 PM or 10 PM ET.
The semifinals occur on Thursday, December 7th from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will include a doubleheader to determine the championship matchup. Semifinal play begins at 5 PM with a matchup on ESPN, while the second game takes place at 9 PM ET on TNT. On Saturday, December 9th, the In-Season Tournament championship will be televised on ABC at 8:30 PM ET.
The In-Season Tournament, while currently being broadcast by ESPN, ABC, and TNT, is a new wrinkle within the season that could prove to be a factor in negotiations for a new television media rights deal with the NBA.
An exclusive negotiating window for the next media rights deal opens on March 9, 2024 and closes 45 days later, at which point other companies could choose to formally demonstrate interest.
