The 2025-26 NBA season is here! With 30 teams playing 82 regular season games each, that’s a lot of basketball action to look forward to. The NBA 2025-26 season tips off on Tuesday, October 21 when the reigning champions, Oklahoma City Thunder, host the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors visit the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA is broadcast worldwide but if you travel abroad, you won’t be able to watch via your home streaming source due to geographic restrictions.
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a service you can use to spoof your location and unblock live streams of NBA games. Connecting to a VPN server in your home country encrypts your traffic and changes your IP address. You can then browse and stream more securely, as well as bypass geo-blocking when traveling abroad. Even if you’re at home in the US, a VPN can be useful for bypassing blackout restrictions that prevent you from watching your local NBA team.
NBA matches are only shown on region-locked platforms. For this reason, you’ll need a VPN to continue watching the NBA via your usual home streaming service from abroad.
How to watch the NBA season (2025-26) abroad with a VPN
This may be your first time using a VPN and, if so, you’ll probably want to know how to go about using one to watch the 2025-26 NBA season. Fortunately, it’s all very quick and easy to do.
Here’s how to watch the NBA season live online from abroad:
- Start by signing up with a VPN provider. We recommend NordVPN, although Surfshark and Total VPN are also suitable for live streaming NBA games.
- Next, download and install the VPN app that’s compatible with your streaming device. You can use the above recommended VPNs on multiple devices simultaneously.
- Connect to a VPN server in the country of the streaming service you’re trying to access. For example, a server in the US to unblock and stream NBA games on ESPN.
- Start watching your preferred NBA game. This should now be unblocked and stream without further restriction.
- Blocked? Clear your cookies and refresh your browser. If this doesn’t do the trick, try connecting to a different server and clearing your cookies again.
NBA matches are broadcast live. Checking your VPN works with your chosen streaming platform ensures you can address any technical issues ahead of time. Indeed, your VPN’s customer support may be able to provide you with further assistance.
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How to stream the NBA season live online
USA
US TV coverage of the 2025-26 NBA season is shared between CBS, ESPN, and NBC. If you have cable TV that includes these channels, then you can watch NBA games at no extra cost by signing in to their respective platforms using your cable TV login credentials.
Don’t have cable TV? No problem! The good news is that you can watch the above channels via select TV streaming services:
| CBS | ESPN | NBC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FUBO TV | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HULU + LIVE TV | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SLING TV | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| YOUTUBE TV | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Here’s how all of the options compare when it comes to pricing:
- FuboTV: USD USD$84.99/month and includes a 7-day free trial
- Hulu + Live TV: $82.99/month with a 3-day free trial
- Sling TV: $60.99/month(Orange & Blue package)
- YouTube TV: $82.99/month with varying free trials
As you can see, Sling TV is the most affordable option. It includes CBS, ESPN, and NBC and costs $60.99. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include a free trial. FuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV all offer free trials, giving you a chance to watch at least some NBA games for free.
Amazon Prime Video will be showing 66 NBA games this 2025-26 season. A standalone Prime Video subscription costs $8.99 a month. If you already have an Amazon Prime subscription, you’ll already have access to Prime Video. Otherwise, Prime costs $14.99 each month. Better still, Amazon Prime offers a 30-day free trial to new customers.
Peacock will have 100 NBA games this season. A Peacock Premium subscription is required to watch these live and this costs $10.99 monthly. If you’re new to Peacock, you’re eligible for its 7-day free trial.
Another way to watch NBA games in the US is NBA League Pass. Just keep in mind that in the US, games televised locally and nationally are subject to blackout restrictions. What it does let you watch is out-of-market NBA games. It costs $16.99 a month or $109.99 for the 2025-26 season.
Regardless of how you choose to watch the 2025-26 NBA season, you’ll need a VPN to do so if you’re traveling abroad. By connecting to a VPN server in the US, you’ll be assigned a US IP address for bypassing the geo-blocking. NordVPN is our top choice for streaming NBA games and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try it out risk-free.
Read more Hulu articles here:
Canada
NBA League Pass is the best way to watch NBA games in Canada this 2025-26 season. Games broadcast nationally are blacked out, as are Toronto Raptors games. However, they’re available to stream on-demand after the broadcast ends. In Canada, League Pass costs CAD $19.99 a month ($27.99/month without ads) or $129.99 a year ($184.99 ad-free).
You can also watch some NBA games on Sportsnet and TSN. In fact, the two share the broadcast rights to Toronto Raptors games, showing 41 Raptors games each. If you already have a cable TV subscription that includes these options, you can watch NBA games at no additional cost.
Fortunately, Sportsnet and TSN provide options for watching cable-free. Sportsnet+ costs CAD $29.99/month and TSN is $8 monthly.
Due to the fact that Sportsnet and TSN are only available in Canada, you’ll need a Canadian IP address via a VPN in order to watch them while traveling overseas.
UK
NBA League Pass is where you can stream every 2025-26 NBA game from the UK. A monthly subscription is priced at GBP £16.99 a month whereas a subscription for the full season is £114.99. Ad-free versions are available for £22.99/month or £149.99/season.
Some 86 NBA games will be shown on Amazon Prime Video in the UK. Amazon Prime costs £8.99 each month but a standalone Prime Video subscription is available for just £5.99 a month. If you’re new to Prime, you may qualify for a 30-day free trial.
A UK IP address is required to access the above streaming options. You can get one by connecting to a VPN server located in the UK.
Australia
NBA League pass is home to NBA games in Australia and costs AUD $24.99 a month with ads or $32.99/month ad-free. Full season subscriptions cost $32.99/month or $229.99/year.
The other way to stream the 2025-26 NBA season in Australia is ESPN which will show approximately 240 games throughout the regular season and postseason. There are a few ways to watch ESPN. If you’re with Foxtel, you may already have access to ESPN. If so, you can stream the NBA via the Foxtel Go app.
If you don’t have cable, know that you can watch ESPN via Disney+ for just $15.99 a month. Kayo Sports also has ESPN and, although more expensive at $30/month, includes a 7-day free trial. Foxtel Now is the most expensive option at $54 monthly but its free trial lasts 10 days.
Want to watch outside Australia? You’ll find the above streaming platforms to be region-locked but a VPN and Australian IP address helps you get around this.
Other locations
If we haven’t mentioned your country, don’t worry. Here’s a list of current NBA broadcasters. Otherwise, NBA League Pass is available in almost every country worldwide with only a few exceptions like China and Russia. Prices vary by country but you can expect to pay USD $16.99/month in the US, GBP £16.99 in the UK, and AUD $24.99 in Australia.
NBA 2025-26 full schedule
There are more than 1,200 games in the NBA regular season alone. Needless to say, we won’t list every single one of them here! However, here’s the full NBA schedule as listed on the NBA’s official website.
NBA season: FAQs
Can I use a free VPN to watch the NBA season live online?
You’ll struggle to use a free VPN to watch the 2025-26 NBA season live online. There are a few reasons for this. In particular, free VPNs don’t offer many servers or server locations. This limits the content you can actually unblock. Furthermore, the small number of IP addresses quickly become blacklisted due to the large number of users they attract (due to being free).
Due to their high number of users on free VPN servers, you’re likely to experience a slower connection. This combined with their bandwidth throttling makes streaming any content, the NBA or otherwise, very challenging. Streams play in low resolution and you’re likely to encounter lag and buffering.
Keep in mind that free VPNs may not provide sufficient security or privacy protection. Your data may not be properly encrypted and you may be exposed to leaks as a result. Some free VPNs make money by spamming you with ads (some of which may be malicious in nature) or by logging and selling your browsing data.
What are NBA blackouts (and can a VPN help)?
An NBA blackout occurs when a game isn’t available for live streaming or broadcast within a particular region or market. This is due to contractual obligations related to broadcasting rights.
There can be local blackouts or national blackouts:
- Local blackouts: With local blackouts, games are broadcast by local TV networks. If you’re in that region, you may not be able to stream the game via a national service or on your League Pass because the local network has exclusive rights.
- National blackouts: When it comes to national blackouts, games are reserved for national broadcasters. Even if you’re in the region of the local team, you may not be able to watch it on local channels or some streaming services.
NBA League Pass blackouts are also an issue (games that are on national TV as well as those available on a local TV network in your area). Using a VPN to change your IP address and location in the US can help you avoid NBA blackouts.
Is it legal to use a VPN to watch the NBA season?
Yes, it’s legal to use a VPN to watch the NBA season. Despite this, using a VPN to bypass NBA blackouts or to watch NBA streams from abroad may go against the terms of use of some streaming platforms. Despite this, streaming services aren’t likely to be taking any action against your account. What may happen is the IP address you’re using becomes blacklisted. If this happens, you can switch VPN servers to get a new IP address and hopefully continue streaming.
Note: we are not lawyers and nothing in this article should be taken as legal advice.
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