The NBA’s new media rights agreements with Disney (ESPN/ABC), NBC, and Amazon won’t give those partners matching rights during the next round of negotiations in 11 years, industry sources tell Mike Vorkunov and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. For instance, if the NBA were to reach an agreement on a rights deal with Netflix in 2035, Amazon wouldn’t be given the right to match Netflix’s offer.
The league presumably didn’t want to deal with that complication again in its next media rights negotiation period, given how Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching rights have affected this year’s talks. Warner Bros. Discovery (the parent company of TNT Sports) reportedly intends to exercise its matching rights on Amazon’s new package of games. The league, in turn, is expected to challenge WBD’s interpretation of those rights, which could result in a legal battle.
The NBA’s new media deals will go into effect at the start of the 2025/26 season and will run through ’35/36.
We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- If Seattle gets a new NBA team in the next round of expansion, the ownership group that controls the NHL’s Seattle Kraken is considered the significant frontrunner, but the bidding for a Las Vegas franchise looks more wide open, according to Randall Williams and Kim Bhasin of Fortune.com, who hears from two sources that the total price tag – including building a new arena – could reach $7 billion. The company that owns the Red Bull brand is among the groups with interest in a Las Vegas team, per Williams and Bhasin.
- Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has published his “way-too-soon” mock draft for 2025, with Duke forward Cooper Flagg at No. 1, followed by Rutgers guard Dylan Harper. Baylor wing V.J. Edgecombe, Rutgers swingman Ace Bailey, and UNC guard Drake Powell round out Wasserman’s top five.
- In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes a look at each team’s most impactful transaction of the offseason so far and what moves might still be coming before the regular season tips off.
Baye Ndongo gonna be the 1st guy from Tech to go top10 in the draft since DFavors, mark it down. Versatile, productive, long, clutch, athletic & he still has a lot of untapped potential. Everything you want in a lottery big man.. link to m.youtube.com
I looked him up. He sounds like a one and done piece of meat. He should stay in school. Get a degree. He sounds like a generic 6’9″ guy. Get an education. Can the guy rebound, what is his assist to turn over ratio, what is shooting range? There is nothing wrong with guys going a full 4 years in college. He should develop his skills. You have to be be smart.
Las Vegas Red Bulls sounds dope