The Cleveland Cavaliers tip off their regular season on Wednesday when they take on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. NBA coverage will look different this season. The league is swapping out
TNT for NBC, Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video. Let’s take a look at where and how you can watch the Cavs this year.
FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland is still your best place to watch Cavaliers basketball if you’re in the Cleveland TV market. They will carry 70 of the Cavs’ 82 games.
FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland can be accessed through your basic cable package or can be purchased through a streaming subscription if you’re in the Cleveland area. A free one-month trial for FanDuel’s streaming service can be obtained with the promo code SBNFALL30.
Watch Cavs games with FanDuel Sports Network free for 30 days
- First 5,000 using the code SBNFALL30 get a free month
- Never miss a Cavaliers game. Stream all season long with FanDuel Sports Network
FanDuel’s broadcasting team will look similar to last season. John Michael, Brad Daugherty, and Serena Winters will be on the call for these games. Cayleigh Griffin and Austin Carr will be handling the pre and postgame shows again. They will be joined by former 2016 champion Iman Shumpert for select games.
NBA League Pass is still the best option for fans not in the Cleveland TV market. All Cavs games that aren’t nationally broadcast will be on League Pass, subject to local blackout rules.
The Cavs have 29 nationally televised games this season. Twelve of those games are exclusive to the nationally broadcasting partner.
The league made a concerted effort to make sure that all of the nationally televised games this season were available on a streaming app. Let’s take a look at how that affects the Cavs.
ESPN and the Watch ESPN App
The Cavs have seven games this season that will be shown on ESPN and through their app, which requires a monthly subscription. Those games are as follows:
- Oct. 22 at Knicks
- Oct. 29 at Boston Celtics
- Jan. 14 at Philadelphia 76ers
- Jan. 21 at Charlotte Hornets
- Jan. 28 vs. Los Angeles Lakers
- Feb. 27 at Detroit Pistons
- March 11 at Orlando Magic
ABC and Watch ESPN App
Three games will be exclusively shown on ABC and through the Watch ESPN App. Those games are:
- Dec. 25 at Knicks
- Feb. 22 at Oklahoma City Thunder
- March 8 vs. Celtics
NBC and Peacock
NBC is one of the new broadcast partners. All games broadcast by NBC will be available on Peacock as well. However, there will be some games that are on Peacock, but aren’t broadcast on NBC.
First, let’s take a look at the games that will be on both NBC and its streaming service, Peacock:
- Dec. 29 at San Antonio Spurs
- Jan. 19 vs. Thunder
- Feb. 24 vs. Knicks
- March 17 at Milwaukee Bucks
- March 24 vs. Magic
Peacock
These games won’t be shown on NBC, but will be broadcast on Peacock. A Peacock subscription would be needed to access these games.
- Oct. 27 at Pistons
- Nov. 17 vs. Bucks
- Nov. 24 at Toronto Raptors
- Dec. 22 vs. Hornets
- Jan. 26 vs. Magic
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon has been broadcasting Thursday Night Football for the NFL for a few years now. They will attempt to bring that winning formula over to the NBA.
Like the NFL games, these will be exclusively broadcast on Amazon Prime Video. An Amazon Prime subscription will be needed to watch these four games.
- Nov. 21 vs. Indiana Pacers
- Jan. 10 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
- April 2 at Golden State Warriors
- April 10 at Atlanta Hawks
These new TV/streaming partners will also have playoff games as well.
NBA TV
NBA TV will broadcast five Cavs games this season. These games are:
- Nov. 13 vs. Raptors
- Nov. 15 vs. Memphis Grizzlies
- Dec. 6 vs. Warriors
- Dec. 1 vs. Phoenix Suns
- March 15 vs. Dallas Mavericks
There will be more searching for channels this year for NBA fans. However, the new broadcasting partners should add some much-needed fresh perspective to games this season.
But no matter who’s broadcasting the games, it’ll be nice to have basketball back in our lives.
