How to watch the NBA Playoffs: Live stream the 2025 postseason anywhere
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The 2025 NBA Playoffs have arrived, and eight exciting matchups are set to define the first round. If you're a cord-cutter looking to live stream the games, you've come to the right place. Keep reading to learn how to watch the NBA Playoffs, from Round 1 to the Finals.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been the undeniable standouts of the 2024-2025 regular season. The team leads the Western Conference with a 68-14 regular season record, while the Cleveland Cavaliers lead the Eastern Conference with a 64-18 regular season record. The Boston Celtics, last year's NBA Finals champions, have once again had a pretty good season, ranking second in the Eastern Conference, although nothing quite compares to their 2023-2024 run.
The Dallas Mavericks were the best of the west last season and made it all the way to the Finals last year, where they ultimately lost to the Celtics in Game 5. However, the team stumbled in the back half of the 2024-2025 season, thanks in no small part to the loss of Luka Doncic (who was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers in a bombshell mid-season trade) and injuries among stars like Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. The team failed to make it out the Play-In Tournament and couldn't clinch a Playoffs spot this year.
Whether your team made the cut or not, we'll ensure you can live stream the NBA Playoffs. We've highlighted some of our favorite streaming services, including a couple that will allow you to watch every single game of the 2025 Playoffs.
How to watch NBA Playoffs in the US
The NBA Playoffs will air on ESPN, ABC, TNT, and NBA TV in the United States. This is a similar slate of networks as the regular season, so if you've found a way to watch the league regularly over the past few months, you should be covered for the postseason.
If you're a cord-cutter looking for an easy way to watch the Playoffs, you can do so through a variety of popular live streaming services, including some of the best sports streaming services we've tested, like DirecTV, Sling TV, Fubo, and Max. DirecTV and Sling will enable you to watch every game of the Playoffs, while Fubo and Max only carry certain games. Keep reading to explore a full breakdown of the services.
Sling TV is the cheapest way to watch every single NBA Playoffs game. The streaming service carries ESPN, TNT, and 33 other live channels in its Sling Orange plan, which costs $46/month. From there, you'll want to add the Sports Extra for an additional $11/month. This unlocks an extra 10 or so channels, including NBA TV. Sling Blue carries ABC and local channels in select regions, so you could certainly pay more to subscribe to the Sling Orange + Blue plan, but we've found that most ABC broadcasts of NBA games also live stream on ESPN3, which is included with Sling Orange. Sling breaks down this option in their NBA basketball guide, but I also personally found this to be true when I watched Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
DirecTV carries ESPN, TNT, NBA TV, and ABC (in select regions) in the DirecTV MySports pack. The sports-only package offers 25+ key sports channels for $70/month. If MySports doesn't offer ABC in your region, you can upgrade to DirecTV's Entertainment plan for $85/month. This unlocks 90+ live channels across a variety of genres, although you'll need to opt for the higher Choice tier (for $90/month) to also get NBA TV. No matter what you choose, all DirecTV plans come with a five-day free trial.
Fubo is another popular live TV streaming service with broad ABC, ESPN, and NBA TV coverage, in addition to 200+ other live channels in its Fubo Elite plan. The Elite plan, which costs $95/month, is necessary for NBA TV. However, the service doesn't carry TNT games, so subscribers will need to look elsewhere for that option. New customers can try out the service for free for one week and get up to $30 off their first week of service.
If you're looking for that TNT live streaming option, you can always give Max a go. HBO's streaming counterpart now offers live sports streaming through its B/R Sports add-on, which is included with all ad-free subscriptions. Ad-free plans start at $17/month and unlock ad-free on-demand content, although live programming will always contain ads. Max is also available in the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max bundle.
How to watch NBA Playoffs from anywhere
The NBA Playoffs are fairly confined to US-only broadcasts and streaming, although some games were available through the BBC last year in the UK. If you find yourself traveling through a region where you can't access your usual streaming methods, you don't need to worry about missing out on any of the fun. You can access all of your go-to websites and apps with the help of a VPN (virtual private network), which enables you to change your virtual location at the click of a button. A VPN is also an instant way to boost online security. Since the services we've recommended require US methods of payment, this will work best for Americans who are simply traveling abroad.
Not sure where to start when it comes to VPNs? Time and time again, the best option we've tested is ExpressVPN. It's a user-friendly app with a hassle-free 30-day money-back guarantee. You can read more about it in our ExpressVPN review, and see below to learn how to use a VPN.
How to watch NBA Playoffs with a VPN
- Sign up for a VPN if you don't already have one.
- Install it on the device you're using to watch.
- Turn it on and set it to a US location.
- Sign up for one of the above streaming services.
- Enjoy the games!
2025 NBA Playoffs Schedule
The Playoffs kick off on April 19 and will last four rounds. Each round has a tentative start date, depending on how far the previous round gets. For example, if no teams make it to Game 7 of Round 1, the start date of the Conference Semifinals will most likely be moved up. You can check out a rough schedule below, based on what has been announced so far on NBA.com.
- Round 1: Starts April 19, 2025; Ends May 4, 2025 at the very latest
- Conference Semifinals: Starts May 5-6, 2025 (but can move up to May 3-4); Ends TBD
- Conference Finals: Starts May 20-21, 2025 (but can move up to May 18-19); Ends June 2, 2025 at the very latest
- NBA Finals: Starts June 5, 2025; Ends June 22, 2025 at the very latest
Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.