1. The NBA season could end tonight. It will definitely end by Sunday night.

When the league returns for the 2025-26 season, it will look completely different from a broadcast perspective. NBC/Peacock, as well as Amazon, will be in while TNT is out. In addition, there will be national games available to fans seven days a week.

One thing that won’t change, though, from a broadcasting perspective is the NBA will still feature the deepest talent of outstanding play-by-play callers in all of sports.

So much discussion, especially the past few weeks, has been about NBA talking heads and whether they are hurting the sport.

When you put on a nationally televised NBA game, though, you’re usually get the best in the business.

Mike Breen for ABC/ESPN is a legend and would be considered the greatest NBA voice of all time if not for Marv Albert.

NBC’s coverage next season will also feature up-and-comer Noah Eagle.

Noah’s father, Ian, will anchor Amazon’s play-by-play coverage and he is expected to be joined by Kevin Harlan.

You can’t overstate how important the play-by-play person is in the NBA, where they handle the vast majority of mic time thanks to the speed of the game.

With so many people dumping on the league during the playoffs, those superb play-by-play folks should be recognized and saluted.

Even with all the changes coming next season, NBA fans will remain in good hands during game coverage thanks to Breen, Tirico, Eagle, Eagle and Harlan.

2. A brand-new SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast dropped Thursday morning with independent sports journalist Joon Lee.

Earlier this week, Lee wrote a story titled, "$4,785. That’s How Much It Costs to Be a Sports Fan Now," for the New York Times. The piece detailed what it costs someone to be a sports fan in 2025, from the abundance of streaming services fans need to subscribe to the massive increase in cost of attending live events. Lee explains how costs have skyrocketed in such a short time, how the fractured broadcast schedule has hurt sports fans, what's happened to sports bars in recent years and more.

Lee also shares insights into the current state of sports media, discusses getting laid off from ESPN in 2023 and why YouTube is dominating the digital landscape.

Following Lee, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment. This week, we discuss Father's Day, feedback that came in after I bashed the Savannah Bananas, Stephen A. Smith playing solitaire during the NBA Finals, the new Naked Gun trailer and more.

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.

3. I need every detail behind this story.

4. When I saw the headline, “Seth Halvorsen throws a pitch that’s just a little outside,” I thought to myself, “This is probably clickbait and the pitch isn’t gonna be so bad.”

I was wrong. I literally LOL’d. I think it was the sound made when the pitch hit the wall.

5. The Panthers-Oilers Stanley Cup Final finished with an average of 2.5 million viewers per game on TNT, down 40% from last year’s final on ABC.

6. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkovcelebrated his Stanley Cup win by waking up his neighbors at 5 a.m.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This is what it looked like when Michael Jordan was drafted third overall on this date in 1984.

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 NBA Will Be In Very Good Hands Next Year After Undergoing Massive Broadcast Changes.

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