NBA League Pass 2026-27: What It Covers and What It Skips

NBA League Pass is the first thing most people look up when the season starts, and it’s easy to assume it covers every game. It doesn’t. In fact, I went through the league’s own guide and three streaming guides this week, and the fine print changes what you should buy.

The season tipped off on Oct. 20, so the first games are already done. (Knicks banner night even came with a strange side story, which I covered in the Knicks phishing test post.) Below I go through what the pass costs, what it blocks, which services carry the rest, and a few ways to put it together without overpaying.

What NBA League Pass costs in 2026-27

The NBA’s own pricing page showed me prices in another currency when I opened it, so I checked U.S. numbers elsewhere. Tom’s Guide, PCWorld and americantv.com agree on the figures below, and americantv says they match NBA.com’s U.S. prices as of Oct. 12. Keep in mind they are before tax, and the league can change them mid-season.

Plan	Monthly	Season	Good to know
League Pass	$16.99	$109.99	1 screen at a time, has ads, Multiview for up to 4 games
League Pass Premium	$24.99	$159.99	3 screens, no ads, offline downloads
Team Pass	$13.99	Monthly only	One out-of-market team
NBA TV	$8.99	Monthly only	The league’s 24/7 channel

Monthly or season: NBA League Pass math

The regular season runs into April, so six monthly bills cover it if you sign up now. Six months of League Pass costs $101.94, which is $8.05 less than the $109.99 season price. For Premium, six months costs $149.94 against $159.99. That’s my math from the listed prices.

So monthly wins unless you plan to keep paying for seven months or more. Also, monthly plans pause or cancel at the end of the billing cycle, while the season plan renews on its own before next season. NBA.com says it emails you 30 days before that charge.

What NBA League Pass blocks

This is the part that catches people. The pass is built for out-of-market games, and two kinds of games stay dark live:

• National games. Anything on ESPN, ABC, NBC, Peacock or Prime Video. The NBA’s page says these show up on demand after 6 a.m. ET the next day.
• Your local team. The league blocks games in your own market live. One guide says they unlock on demand about three days later.

There’s a third catch from PCWorld. If your out-of-market team plays the team in your area, home or away, that game stays dark too. Blackouts depend on your location, so use the ZIP code checker on NBA.com before you pay.

One small bonus: americantv reports that every plan includes live radio for all games, with no blackouts.

Why the blackouts matter more than they sound

Add up the league’s numbers and you get 100 games on NBC and Peacock, 80 on ABC and ESPN, and 66 on Prime Video. That makes 246 national games. First, a regular season has 1,230 games (30 teams times 82 games, divided by two), so about one game in five is national. That’s my math.

But that undersells the problem, because the league puts its showcase games on the national slate: the season opener, the Christmas Day games, the NBA Cup knockouts and the Play-In.

Where the games the pass skips actually air

Each national partner has its own app. These are U.S. monthly prices, and the game counts come from the NBA’s guide.

Service	Monthly price	What it carries
Prime Video	$8.99 (Prime Video alone)	66 regular-season games, the NBA Cup knockouts, the Play-In
Peacock Premium	$12.99	100 games shared with NBC, plus the Monday games
ESPN Unlimited	$31.99	80 games on ESPN and ABC, including Christmas Day
YouTube TV Sports plan	$65	ABC, ESPN, NBC and NBCSN in one bill

However, older guides still list old prices. PCWorld puts ESPN Unlimited at about $30, but Clark.com reports that ESPN raised it from $29.99 to $31.99 on Sept. 17. Likewise, Peacock Premium rose from $10.99 to $12.99 in August. If a guide shows the old numbers, treat the rest of it with care.

Which night is on which service

From the league’s schedule, Mondays are on Peacock (starting Oct. 26), Tuesdays on NBC and Peacock (starting Oct. 27), Wednesdays on ESPN, and Fridays on Prime Video. More nights arrive later. For example, ABC starts its Saturday primetime game on Dec. 12, ESPN and Prime add Thursday and Friday doubleheaders in January, and NBC adds Sunday nights on Jan. 24.

Two free helps come with this. The NBA app’s Tap to Watch feature shows where each game streams, and nba.ecal.com adds the schedule to your calendar with direct links. Also, an antenna picks up your local ABC and NBC stations for free, as Clark.com points out. It won’t help with games that live only on ESPN, Prime Video or Peacock.

How to build your NBA League Pass setup

I added up a few setups at the monthly prices above. All of it is my math, before tax.

If your team is out of market

First, this is who the pass is for. Team Pass at $13.99 covers one out-of-market team, but that’s only $3 less than the full $16.99 pass. Unless you truly watch one team and nobody else, I’d take the full pass.

But your team’s biggest games will probably be national. Every service together costs $16.99 + $8.99 + $12.99 + $31.99 = $70.96 a month. That’s the full-coverage price, and most people won’t need all of it at once.

If your team is local, skip NBA League Pass

So the pass won’t show your home team live, which makes it the wrong tool. Local games run through a regional network, a team streaming service, or sometimes free over the air. The regional sports network setup fell apart this year, so the options are a patchwork. PCWorld built a team-by-team chart, and it’s the best one I found. The NBA itself only has how-to-watch pages for a few teams.

A few examples from that chart: Knicks fans can use MSG on DAZN for $30 a month or $280 a year, and Lakers fans can use Spectrum SportsNet+ at $20 a month. Meanwhile, the Hawks, Mavericks, Pistons and Suns show local games free over the air. DAZN’s NBA subscriptions are separate from any DAZN account you already have.

A Knicks fan who wants everything would pay $30 for MSG on DAZN plus $53.97 for ESPN, Peacock and Prime Video. That comes to $83.97 a month.

If you only want the big games

You may not need a league pass at all. Prime Video at $8.99 covers 66 games, the Cup knockouts and the Play-In. An antenna covers the ABC and NBC games. Then add a service only for the month you need it, like ESPN Unlimited when the games you care about land on ESPN. Clark.com calls this the “part-time subscriber” approach, and it works because all of these services bill month to month.

Watching the NBA outside the U.S.

Rights holders change by country, so the U.S. services above don’t all apply. Tom’s Guide lists these:

• UK: Sky Sports and Now, Prime Video at £8.99 a month, and League Pass from £16.99 a month or £114.99 for the season.
• Canada: TSN and Sportsnet, Prime Video, and League Pass at CA$19.99 a month or CA$130 for the season.
• Australia: Foxtel and Kayo Sports, ESPN’s NBA coverage on Disney+, and League Pass at AU$24.99 a month or AU$175 for the season.

Still, I found those prices in one guide only, so check the provider’s page before you pay. Blackout rules also differ by country, so run the NBA’s checker for your location.

Is NBA League Pass worth it?

My take: yes, for one kind of fan. If your favorite team plays far from where you live, $16.99 a month is fair for every out-of-market game and the replays. If your team is local, or you mostly want the big games, it’s the wrong first purchase.

Overall, what surprised me is how little the pass covers. I expected it to be the main NBA service, and it’s closer to an add-on. The national apps carry the opener, Christmas and the Cup. The local option carries your home team. The pass fills the gap in the middle.

Prices have already moved twice since August, so read the checkout page before you pay. Finally, use the ZIP checker and Tap to Watch to confirm where your next game lands.