Stream Basketball Live: Don’t Miss Any NBA or NCAA Action!

As a basketball fan looking to catch all the action without a cable subscription, I’ve found several ways to stream games from the top US leagues online. Let me share the best options for watching your favorite teams.

In a hurry? If you just want to start watching basketball, check out these services:

Why You Need a VPN Today

However, first you need a VPN to unblock US streaming services from . Our favourite is ExpressVPN. It’s definitely not the cheapest option at $6.67/month, but it just works – and across all your devices.

They have servers in 25+ US cities/states and 105 countries, which unblock access to premium streaming platforms available only in the US, as well as free “on demand” TV services worldwide.

You’ll have access to local platforms as if you were in the country, meaning you can watch BBC iPlayer as if you were in the UK, CBC Gem as if you were in Canada, plus hundreds more worldwide.

Sign Up for ExpressVPN

Hotdog users get three months free at ExpressVPN, so it’s a “no-brainer” for us. Decide for yourself with their 30 day money-back guarantee.

IMPORTANT: Once you’ve installed your VPN and connected to a US server, you’ll still need to subscribe separately to access premium streaming services.

If you are a basketball fan, it can be intimidating to stop using cable. But there is really nothing to be concerned about because you can stream basketball better than ever.

The top streaming services offer access to both NCAA basketball and NBA that is every bit as good as what you get with cable plans. In fact, in many cases, you can only stream basketball games.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

How to Stream Basketball

We’ve put together guides to get you started watching your favorite teams without the cost of a cable subscription.

Watching NBA Online Without Cable

Here are the main guides on how to watch NBA games online without cable. We created separate pages for particular leagues like the G League and the All-Star Game too:

• NBA
• NBA Christmas Day Games
• NBA G League
• NBA All-Star Weekend
• NBA Draft
• NBA Playoffs

How to Watch Specific NBA Teams Without Cable

If you’re looking for a specific NBA team on live TV, you’ll need to know what channel to find. All the US-based teams are associated with a regional sports network (RSN). This is a local TV channel that broadcasts virtually all of a given team’s games in that team’s market.

You must be in the team’s broadcast area to get the RSN. So for fans of the local NBA team, getting access to the team’s RSN is critical. If you are outside the team’s broadcast area, you can watch most of the games via NBA League Pass.

The following table provides links to our viewing guides for each team and articles about all of the RSNs. It also tells you if the RSN is available through DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, or Hulu + Live TV.

DIRECTV STREAM (formerly AT&T TV) has the best selection. It is also the most expensive. You need to sign up with the Choice plan for $108.99/month. Fubo offers almost as good a selection, starting at $91.98/month. Hulu + Live TV provides access to only a few RSN but it is a good deal for only $76.99/month.

If you also want to stream basketball with NBA League Pass, you need to stick with DIRECTV STREAM or Fubo since Hulu + Live TV does not offer it. But you can sign up for the standalone version.

How to Watch NCAA Basketball Online Without Cable

College basketball is broadcast in a lot of different ways. But they can be categorized in three ways:

1. National Channels: CBS Sports Network (CBSSN), Fox Sports (FS1, FS2), ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU
2. Conference Channels: ACC Network (ACCN), Big Ten Network (BTN, B1G), Longhorn Network (LHN), Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network (SECN)
3. Streaming Services: More and more live sports are broadcast through these services — especially ESPN+ but also FloSports, Peacock, Paramount+, and specialized ones like B1G+.

March Madness is a different matter. All of these games are shown on CBS and the Turner channels TBS, TNT, and truTV.

Here are the guides on how you can catch college basketball and March Madness without cable online:

• College Basketball
• March Madness (Sling TV,Schedule, including Elite Eight)
• Women’s March Madness.

How to Watch Specific NCAA Basketball Teams Without Cable

For a particular college basketball game stream, see these team guides:

Top Services to Stream Basketball

If you want the basics, most general streaming services will provide you with a lot of basketball to watch. Even a basic $40.00/month Sling Blue or Sling Orange will provide enough action for a lot of fans. And you can get a lot more by adding the Sports Extra add-on for $11/mo.

Streaming Services for Watching NBA Games

There are roughly two kinds of NBA fans: those who root for the home team and those who root for one or more distant teams. (There are also fans who do both.)

Streaming for Local NBA Fans

Local fans really need a streaming service that provides access to their team’s RSN. That means you need to sign up with one of the following:

• DIRECTV STREAM (RSNs for 29 teams)
• Fubo (RSNs for 28 teams)
• Hulu + Live TV (RSNs for 6 teams)
• YouTube TV (RSNs for 6 teams).

As we’ve noted, DIRECTV STREAM has the largest selection but Fubo is as good or better outside Los Angeles and New York. Remember: you only get the RSNs that are available in your region.

The fact that Bally Sports Kansas City is available from DIRECTV STREAM doesn’t matter if you live in San Francisco. Fans there will only get NBC Sports California and NBC Sports Bay Area because those are the RSNs that cover that area.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

Streaming for Distant or General NBA Fans

If you don’t care about watching the games of your local team but you still want to follow the NBA season carefully, you should sign up for NBA League Pass. It allows you to watch pretty much every regular-season game live. The catch? You can only watch out-of-market games (that is, games that don’t involve your local team).

You can get NBA League Pass on its own. But it’s convenient to integrate it with a live TV streaming service. That’s especially true if you are using NBA League Pass and your local RSN(s) to watch the season.

These services offer NBA League Pass as an add-on:

• DIRECTV STREAM
• Fubo
• Sling TV
• YouTube TV.

The price of NBA League Pass is $14.99/mo whether you get the standalone version or get it integrated with a live TV streaming service. Note that you are limited to a single decide with League Pass; to get up to 3 devices, you must upgrade to Premium for $22.99/mo.

Note that you can stream in-market games after they are over with NBA League Pass. But you must wait until they are made available on-demand. Sadly, this currently takes 3 days. (Hopefully, this will one day change. MLB.TV makes in-market games available just 90 minutes after they finish.)

Otherwise, see this list of streaming service reviews for more, and these sports guides for other popular sports to watch without cable.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

Streaming Services for Watching NCAA Basketball Games

In some ways, it is easier to stream NCAA basketball games because they are mostly shown nationwide so it doesn’t matter where you live. But it’s harder because games are normally shown on a lot of different channels.

See our team list above for complete schedules of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Generally, you will find games on ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network (CBSSN), ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, FS2, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network. You can get all these channels with Fubo and DIRECTV STREAM.

Get all the information in our NCAA Basketball Viewer’s Guide.

Wrapping Up

Streaming is now a better way to watch basketball than cable or satellite has ever been. Our top choice for basketball fans is Fubo. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.

FAQs

Can I stream high school basketball?

Although broadcasts are scattered, you can stream high school basketball games throughout the year. They sometimes appear on network affiliates like ABC. But more often, you will find them on smaller channels. A good one for high school sports is Fubo Sports Network.

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Frank Moraes

I am a Senior Content Editor at Hotdog.com, specializing in sports streaming and regional programming issues. With a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and extensive experience in remote sensing technology, including early video streaming, I bring a unique technical perspective to the streaming industry.

My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.

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