Milwaukee Bucks join NBA’s in-house streamer, partly because of Giannis Antetokounmpo trade

The Milwaukee Bucks have become the second NBA franchise to join the league’s in-house streaming platform, joining the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Rather than shifting its local broadcast streaming option to DAZN, like many other former FanDuel Sports Network teams have opted to do this offseason, the Bucks partnered with the league to launch Bucks+, where in-market fans can pay $100 per season or $20 per month to stream Bucks games. In doing so, the Bucks have foregone the $1 million to $2 million rights fee that DAZN is offering NBA teams joining the platform as an addition to a linear television presence, according to a report by Tom Friend in Sports Business Journal.

Interestingly, the team’s decision to deal star player Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat may have played a role in its streaming decision. Per Friend, “Sources said if the team had not traded Giannis Antetokounmpo, the franchise might have migrated to DAZN. …Sources said the thought was that with Antetokounmpo, the Bucks front office believed fans likely would have gone anywhere, including DAZN, to stream games. But without Antetokounmpo, the team wanted to go a more familiar and seamless route — and air games through the NBA app and the Bucks website.”

The streaming offering will be additional to the Bucks’ previously announced deal with various local affiliates that will broadcast the team’s games over-the-air. The total rights fees for those arrangements, Friend reports, is in the $7 million to $8 million range.

Beginning in the 2027-28 season, the NBA plans to launch a centralized streaming hub that features in-market rights for most or all of its 30 teams that can be sold to a streamer like DAZN or Prime Video. By handling streaming for both the Thunder and Bucks this season, the NBA can get its feet wet for if it ever handles the nuts and bolts of the streaming platform in-house.