ESPN has made it official: Inside the NBA is joining the party for the 2025–26 regular season, but we all know for sure, as Charles Barkley might say — they’re not running him into the ground. You won’t see him appearing on ESPN 1, ESPN 2, ESPN News, ESPNU, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, Get Up, First Take, or bouncing between NBA and NFL shows all day long.
The iconic, 21-time Emmy Award-winning studio show, hosted by Hall of Famer Ernie Johnson alongside Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith, will now be an ESPN and ABC staple. Produced by TNT Sports in Atlanta, Inside the NBA will still deliver its signature pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage for the biggest NBA events — from the regular season openers to the Finals. This will be the first time the crew will handle ABC’s exclusive coverage of the NBA Finals, and Barkley says they’ll keep it fresh without burning out.
The ESPN era tips off with two nights of season-opening doubleheaders — Wednesday, October 22 and Thursday, October 23. Pregame shows will run from 6–7 p.m. ET on October 22 (ESPN, ESPN2) and 6:30–7:30 p.m. ET on October 23 (ESPN), with postgame coverage following both nights immediately after the action.
Throughout the season, Inside the NBA will front ESPN and ABC’s coverage of marquee events, including Christmas Day games, NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC, and NBA Sunday Showcase. The team will also be part of the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals on both networks. ESPN’s pregame shows will start one hour before tipoff, while ABC’s will start 30 minutes before. Postgame coverage will begin right after final buzzer — with Saturday Primetime games continuing seamlessly on the ESPN App.
Where will ESPN’s signature program SportsCenter land in this new era of NBA coverage on the network? (We suspect on one of their other channels like ESPN 2 right after the game has actually ended.) That will be one sacrifice ESPN was willing to make to get Charles, Shaq, Kenny, and Ernie on their network. And speaking of networks, NBA games this season will also be available on Prime Video, NBC, and Peacock.
National broadcast schedule
Monday: Peacock
Tuesday: NBC and Peacock
Wednesday: ESPN
Thursday: Prime Video (starting mid-season)
Friday: Prime Video and ESPN (starting mid-season)
Saturday: ABC/ESPN and Prime Video (starting mid-season)
Sunday: ABC/ESPN and NBC/Peacock (starting mid-season)
Streaming options
ESPN App: Available for all ABC/ESPN games.
Peacock: Will air all NBCUniversal games, including exclusive content.
Prime Video: Will air all Amazon games.
NBA App/League Pass: Available for some games.
Apple Vision Pro: Some Lakers games will be available in an immersive format through the Spectrum SportsNet app.