After a report surfaced over the weekend that the Cleveland Cavaliers, one of five NBA teams that signed exclusive local broadcast deals with DAZN this season, would strike a simulcast deal that will make those broadcasts available on DirecTV, it appears all five DAZN-exclusive teams have reached similar deals.
According to an announcement by DirecTV on Monday, DAZN, in conjunction with the Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, and San Antonio Spurs, have reached an agreement to distribute DAZN’s local NBA broadcasts through DirecTV. DirecTV customers subscribed to the Choice or higher packages will be able to watch the telecasts.
The deal marks a rather dramatic shift in strategy for DAZN and these five NBA teams. Per prior reports, DAZN paid a premium to these five NBA teams for exclusive local broadcast rights through the streamer. Five other NBA teams accepted lower rights fees from DAZN in order to strike additional deals with over-the-air affiliates that would give them linear television exposure.
Monday’s announcement differs slightly from those over-the-air arrangements; this deal appears to be more akin to a direct-to-distributor model that is more-or-less sublicensed through DAZN. Fans in these markets will have to subscribe to either DAZN or DirecTV to access their team’s games, whereas over-the-air deals can be accessed through any cable or satellite provider, or simply with an antenna.
Nevertheless, the deal will surely draw angst from DirecTV subscribers who already paid for DAZN after being told the streamer would be the only way to access local broadcasts for their team this season, only for DirecTV to announce this deal one week into the season. DirecTV’s announcement did not mention refunds for those customers.
It’s unclear whether the five DAZN-exclusive teams will strike more deals with cable and satellite distributors or whether DirecTV will be the only option for fans who don’t want to stream the games. It’s also unclear whether the five DAZN-exclusive teams are sacrificing any of their higher rights fees to strike these deals.
All five DAZN-exclusive teams ranked at the bottom of Awful Announcing’s NBA local broadcast accessibility rankings for the 2026-27 season. Perhaps these franchises quickly realized they needed more than streaming on a still-niche platform to reach their fans this season.
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