NBA Teams Pair Free Local TV With Streaming as DAZN Expands Its Regional Playbook

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies are the latest NBA teams to combine free local television with DAZN streaming during the 2026-27 season. The Timberwolves will simulcast 15 games on TEGNA-owned NBC affiliate KARE 11 in the Twin Cities, while making the same games free through the DAZN app and DAZN’s Timberwolves service. KARE 11 is expected to reach about 1.5 million homes, and the agreement extends the station’s over-the-air relationship with the team into a third season. (tvnewscheck.com)

In Memphis, TEGNA’s WATN/ABC24 will carry 15 Grizzlies regular-season games beginning October 23. Those games will also stream free through DAZN. The team said the package is its largest slate of local over-the-air broadcasts since the franchise moved to Memphis in 2001. TEGNA plans to recruit additional stations across the Grizzlies’ territory in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky. (tvnewscheck.com)

Those agreements follow a similar DAZN partnership with Nexstar Media Group covering 15 Indiana Pacers games. WTTV and WXIN in Indianapolis, WTVW in Evansville and WCIX in Champaign, Illinois, will carry the package, starting with the Pacers-Dallas Mavericks game on October 23. Nexstar plans to add affiliates in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky. Pacers games outside the free package will require a paid DAZN subscription unless nationally televised. (thedesk.net)

Other teams are broadening broadcast access through different structures. Gray Media’s Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network will simulcast 20 New Orleans Pelicans games on Fox affiliate WVUE in New Orleans, beginning October 21. The network distributes Pelicans coverage through over-the-air stations and pay-TV providers across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, while Pelicans+ supplies direct-to-consumer streaming. (tvnewscheck.com)

The Charlotte Hornets are going further in their home market: all locally televised regular-season games will air over the air on Cox Media Group’s WSOC Channel 9 or TV64. Gray Media and Sinclair extend that coverage through additional stations and subchannels across the Carolinas, while DAZN serves as the team’s direct-to-consumer streaming home. (nba.com)

ConsumerEXP analysis: Together, the deals position broadcast stations as free-reach partners rather than replacements for streaming. Teams gain antenna, cable, satellite and virtual-pay-TV exposure while using DAZN or team-branded services for connected-TV distribution, paid full-season access and additional programming.