Short answer: Prime Video has 67 regular-season NBA games in 2026-27, plus the NBA Cup knockouts, all six Play-In games, playoff games in the first two rounds and the 2027 Eastern Conference Finals. They're included with an Amazon Prime membership ($14.99 a month or $139 a year), and the standalone Prime Video plan at $8.99 works too. What you can't do is pull those games into an IPTV player like TiviMate. Prime streams only in Amazon's own app, and any playlist claiming to carry "Prime NBA" is a restream.
At a glance
NBA on Prime Video, 2026-27
| First game | Fri 23 Oct, Knicks vs Celtics, 7pm ET |
| Regular nights | Fridays; Thursdays from Jan; Saturdays from Feb |
| Cheapest access | Prime Video alone, $8.99/month |
| In an IPTV player? | No, Prime Video app only |
| On League Pass? | Blacked out live |
What Prime has this season
Year two of Amazon's 11-year NBA deal looks a lot like year one, with a bigger postseason role. Here's the shape of it, from Amazon's and the NBA's 2026-27 announcements.
| Window | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Friday nights | All season from 23 Oct | Usually a doubleheader |
| Thursday doubleheaders | From January 2027 | After Amazon's NFL Thursday games finish |
| Saturday games | From February 2027 | Selected weeks |
| Black Friday | 27 Nov 2026 | Holiday game |
| New Year's Eve | 31 Dec 2026 | Holiday game |
| NBA Cup | Group games, then knockout rounds in December | Knockouts are Prime's |
| Paris and Manchester games | Early 2027 | European regular-season games |
| Play-In Tournament | April 2027 | All six games |
| Playoffs | April-May 2027 | Selected first- and second-round games; Eastern Conference Finals |
The Knicks, Lakers, Spurs and 76ers have the most Prime appearances, ten each. If you follow a smaller-market team, check the NBA's Prime schedule for your team before signing up for anything. It may be four or five games all season.
The Play-In matters more than it sounds. It used to be on cable, and its streaming debut on Prime in April 2026 averaged about 2.7 million viewers over the first two nights, up 12% on the previous year's cable audiences, according to Sports Media Watch.
Which Amazon plan you actually need
Amazon has quietly made this more complicated in 2026. Three things to know:
| Option | Price (Sept 2026) | NBA games? | Worth it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Prime | $14.99/mo or $139/yr | Yes | Households already using Prime shipping |
| Prime Video standalone | $8.99/mo | Yes | Basketball fans who don't care about shipping |
| Prime Video Ultra add-on | +$4.99/mo | Same games | Ad-free on-demand, 4K, more streams |
| Prime Student | Discounted for verified students | Yes | College students |
The cheapest route is Prime Video on its own at $8.99. It carries the same live NBA games as full Prime. You only need full Prime if you want everything else Amazon bundles in.
Skip Ultra for basketball. In April 2026 Amazon renamed its ad-free add-on to Prime Video Ultra, raised it from $2.99 to $4.99, and moved 4K into it. It removes ads from on-demand shows and films. A live NBA broadcast still has its own commercial breaks, so for games it's mostly paying for picture options and extra simultaneous streams.
Prime Video Channels are separate bills. NBA League Pass and NBA TV are sold as add-on channels inside Prime Video. They're not included with Prime. League Pass through Prime, explained.
What Prime doesn't give you
Prime is one of three national partners this season. A Prime-only fan misses a lot:
- ESPN and ABC games, including Christmas Day and the NBA Finals (ABC).
- NBC and Peacock games: Monday exclusives on Peacock, Tuesday and Sunday games on NBC. How the NBC package splits.
- Your team's local games, which are on the regional sports network or the team's own streaming service, most nights.
- Out-of-market games on other nights, which are League Pass territory.
The reverse trap catches League Pass buyers. Prime's national games are blacked out on League Pass live, and appear as replays from 6am ET the next day. So you need Prime as well as League Pass if you want to see those games as they happen.
Whether a Prime game involving your local team also airs on that team's regional broadcaster isn't consistent across teams. Check the team's own TV schedule rather than assuming.
Prime Video and IPTV players
People who search this usually run an IPTV player such as TiviMate, IPTV Smarters or OTT Navigator and want NBA games inside it. Prime Video won't do that, for the same reasons Sunday Ticket and Peacock won't:
- Streams are encrypted with DRM and only Amazon's app holds the keys.
- Each stream is tied to your Amazon account and device session. There's no permanent URL.
- Amazon doesn't publish an M3U playlist or Xtream login for any of its content.
So "Prime NBA" in a cheap playlist is someone capturing Amazon's feed and rebroadcasting it without a licence. Those streams are the ones that drop at tip-off. How to spot unlicensed sellers.
There's a consolation. Prime Video now has its own Live TV tab with a grid guide that lists live sports, the channels you subscribe to through Prime Video Channels and hundreds of free ad-supported channels. If what you like about IPTV players is the channel-guide layout, it's the closest Amazon gets. It just won't merge with your player's EPG.
The one part of NBA national TV that does load into an IPTV player is the over-the-air stuff: ABC and NBC through an antenna and a network tuner such as an HDHomeRun, which publishes a lineup.m3u playlist on your home network. How that setup works.
Devices, picture and the Friday crush
Prime Video runs on practically everything: Fire TV (including the new Vega OS models, where it's built in), Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, Samsung, LG, Vizio, PlayStation, Xbox, phones and browsers. If your TV can do Netflix, it can almost certainly do Prime. Streaming devices compared.
Some practical points for game nights:
- Finding the game: in the Prime Video app, open the Sports or Live TV section and select NBA, or search the team name. Games appear about 30 minutes early with the pregame show. Adding a game to your Watchlist puts it on your home screen on game night.
- Spanish commentary is offered on Prime's games. Switch it from the audio and subtitles menu (the speech-bubble icon) once the game is playing.
- Prime Vision is an alternate feed on selected games, shot from an above-the-rim camera with AI-generated stats and matchup graphics layered on. Look for it as a separate tile or "More ways to watch" on the game page.
- X-Ray on the standard feed shows live box scores and stats; press up or select the X-Ray prompt on most remotes.
- Use a wire if you can. Live sports are the most demanding thing a home network does, and Friday night is peak traffic for everyone. A $15-$20 Ethernet adapter fixes more streaming problems than any setting. The buffering checklist.
- Streams aren't infallible. Amazon opened an internal review after a stream failure during a Heat-Hornets game in spring 2026. If a game drops, restarting the app usually reconnects you faster than waiting.
- Spoilers: live sports streams run some seconds behind broadcast TV. Mute your phone's score alerts if that matters to you.
Cost per game, honestly
Prime Video alone for the regular season, late October to mid-April, is six months at $8.99: about $54 for 67 games, roughly 80 cents a game, before you count the Play-In and playoffs. As sports subscriptions go, that's cheap.
But per-game maths only counts the games you'd watch. If your team has five Prime games, that's $10.80 a game. A month-by-month approach often works better: subscribe in the months your team plays on Prime and around the Play-In, skip the rest.
If you already have Prime for shipping, there's no decision to make. The games are just there. For a season-long plan that covers every national partner, see the cheapest way to watch the NBA in 2026-27.
Quick answers
Is the NBA free with Amazon Prime? Yes. Prime's 67 regular-season games, the NBA Cup knockouts, the Play-In and Prime's playoff games are included with Prime or the $8.99 Prime Video plan.
Do I need League Pass to watch NBA on Prime Video? No. League Pass is a separate paid channel for out-of-market games and doesn't show Prime's games live.
Can I watch Prime Video NBA games in TiviMate or IPTV Smarters? No. Prime Video only plays in Amazon's app and doesn't provide playlists.
What nights are NBA games on Prime? Fridays all season, Thursday doubleheaders from January, and selected Saturdays from February, plus Black Friday and New Year's Eve.
Does Prime Video Ultra remove ads from NBA games? It removes ads from on-demand content. Live game broadcasts keep their commercial breaks.
Is the NBA Play-In on Prime Video? Yes, all six Play-In games are on Prime in 2027.
Which conference finals does Prime have? The Eastern Conference Finals in 2027.
Schedule and coverage from Amazon's and the NBA's 2026-27 announcements; prices from Amazon's published rates as of September 2026, including the April 2026 Prime Video Ultra change. Schedules can be adjusted during the season. Checked September 2026.