1. After a 23-year hiatus, NBC gets back in the NBA business starting tonight with a doubleheader featuring the Thunder at the Rockets at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Warriors at the Lakers at 10 p.m. ET.

NBC, which aired the NBA from 1990 to 2002, is entering Year 1 of an 11-year deal with the league.

Here’s what you need to know about the network’s coverage for the 2025-26 season.

NBC/Peacock will air 100 regular-season games and a heavy amount of playoff games, including the Western Conference Finals this season.

Peacock will air exclusive games on Monday nights, NBC/Peacock will have a doubleheader on Tuesday nights and once Sunday Night Football ends in January, Sunday Night Basketball on NBC will begin.

NBC’s lead broadcast team features Mike Tirico on play-by-play with Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford joining him as analysts. The network’s secondary team will be Noah Eagle and Grant Hill.

Other play-by-play folks who will work games this season for NBC/Peacock include Michael Grady, Terry Gannon and Mark Followill.

NBC/Peacock’s roster of game analysts includes Austin Rivers, Robbie Hummel, Brad Daugherty, Derek Fisher and Brian Scalabrine.

Sideline reporters will be Zora Stephenson, Ashley ShahAhmadi and Jordan Cornette.

Maria Taylor and Ahmed Fareed will handle studio coverage. Studio analysts: Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.

NBC’s most notable hire for the season is Michael Jordan, who is being labeled a “special contributor.”

During a promo that ran on Sunday Night Football this weekend, Tirico said, “The NBA on NBC, as part of our coverage, our special contributor, Michael Jordan. And we’ll have the first of our visits with M.J. coming up during our coverage of our doubleheader.”

The classic NBA on NBC theme song, “Roundball Rock,” is also returning. The interview I did with the song’s composer, John Tesh, a few months ago on SI Media With Jimmy Traina, was one the best of the year. If you haven’t watched or listened yet, check it out.

2. There’s really no perfect way for Major League Baseball to schedule the World Series in order to get the maximum amount of eyeballs on the game, but the current Friday-Saturday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday set-up ain’t it all.

Going up against football at the front end and back end (if baseball is lucky enough to get a seven-game series) is a killer. Just look at last night. Baseball gets a Game 7 in the American League Championship Series and it has to go against two NFL games.

The World Series schedule should be Wednesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday. This format would have MLB go against college football and the NFL just one weekend. And if baseball was lucky enough to get a Game 7 of the World Series, it would air on a Thursday against one NFL game that airs on a streaming service as opposed to Saturday, which is a dead night when it comes to ratings, against a bunch of college football games.

3. The best part of the Monday Night Football doubleheaders being over for the season is that now we can get Chris Berman’s “Fastest 3 Minutes” segment back during halftime. Boomer has only been doing a “Fastest Minute Segment” during the doubleheader Mondays.

I caught last night’s edition and even though he only had a minute, Berman was still able to share an important message while showing the Colts-Chargers highlights, saying, “Chargers, don’t ever wear those uniforms again.” Amen.

4. I’m not sure there’s anything I hate in football more than the fact that a player dunking the ball over the goal post is a 15-yard penalty, as we saw late last night with Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. There is literally zero reason why this should be a penalty.

5. How lucky are Blue Jays fans? With the World Series airing on Sportsnet in Canada, Toronto fans will get to hear their own announcers, Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez, call the series against the Dodgers. This is what every baseball fan wants in the postseason.

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

The radio Hall of Famer shares his opinions on Major League Baseball’s new television deals, MLB’s decision to carve up their games to as many broadcast services as possible and who he would want as NBC’s lead MLB voice next season. Russo also weighs in on the implementation of the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system for 2026.

Other topics discussed with Russo include Molly Qerim’s departure from First Take, why he isn’t as excited for the Bruce Springsteen biopic as he was for the Bob Dylan movie, interviewing Scottie Scheffler’s father at the Ryder Cup and much more.

Following Russo, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, I provide an important update on ESPN’s new app, we discuss our dream interviews and reminisce about an old-school 1980s WWF angle.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I needed a good video here to celebrate the start of the NBA season. Enter one of the funniest “people” on earth: Ali G.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as The NBA Returns to NBC Tonight, Here’s What You Need to Know.

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