The NBA Playoffs schedule is out and one of the fun things to do is to see which series is the “NBATV series.” That would be the one that gets relegated to the league channel and is seen as the least desirable matchup from a national television perspective. But this year, it’s not just NBATV. It’s ESPNU.
As the 2025 NBA Playoffs get underway this weekend, there is actually only one series that has multiple games scheduled for NBATV. That would be in the Eastern Conference, where the #4 seed, the Indiana Pacers, face off against the #5 seed, the Milwaukee Bucks. Currently, both Game 2 and Game 3 of the series are scheduled for NBATV. Much of the later games in each series are TBD depending on how many go long.
The only other series with games scheduled for NBATV right now are Game 2 of the Cavs series against the winner of the Heat-Hawks play-in game and Game 3 of the Nuggets-Clippers series.
But eagle-eyed observers would have noticed something very unfamiliar with the television assignment for Game 3 of the Pacers-Bucks series. It is scheduled to be simulcast on NBATV and ESPNU.
Save the dates. pic.twitter.com/34MptNdw0P
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) April 16, 2025
Simulcasts are nothing new. Warner Bros. Discovery has made a habit this year out of simulcasting games on both truTV and TNT as the company tries to grow truTV into more of a regular sports destination.
But an NBA playoff game? On ESPNU?
In case you’re wondering why an NBA playoff game would be televised on ESPNU, it conflicts with night two of the NFL Draft which is scheduled to air on ESPN2. The Magic and Celtics are set to square off on ESPN on the same night.
As you can imagine, an NBA playoff game on a channel that is literally meant to show college sports left everyone confused.
A NBA playoff game on ESPNU is wild work
— Kofie (@Kofie) April 16, 2025
The NCAA D3 Football Championship between North Central and Mount Union was on ESPN proper this year. An NBA Playoff game will be on ESPNU. https://t.co/O9MrtuTZA6
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) April 17, 2025
NBA Playoff games on ESPNU in 2025. What’s happened to America man https://t.co/myKCslF58v
— Jeremy (@EmbraceMeHere) April 17, 2025
The only possible explanation is that there are some minute details in the current media deal that give ESPN this game. Otherwise, why wouldn’t it just be a solo NBATV broadcast? Seeing a major professional sports league play a postseason contest on ESPNU may not be earth shattering in the grand scheme of things. But much like seeing rugby on CNBC or college football games on NewsNation or Fox Business, it’s a sign of the strange world of television that we currently reside in.
