The start of the new Golden State Warriors season was kicked behind the paywall of a streaming service, in what feels like a foreboding sign for NBC in its return to NBA coverage.
Golden State’s season opener at the Los Angeles Lakers was the second game of a doubleheader on NBC. When the first game, the Houston Rockets at the Oklahoma City Thunder, went to overtime, NBC decided not to find a second network to air the Warriors-Lakers game on, and instead sent viewers to Peacock, its streaming service. In the past, some networks would take the local markets to the game with their local team involved and make the geographic exceptions, but NBC elected to force viewers in the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles markets to get to Peacock.
It was an entirely predictable outcome for NBC on the first night of their new television broadcasting deal with the NBA. The first game of the doubleheader didn’t begin until at least 10 minutes after its 4:30 p.m. Pacific scheduled start, forcing Warriors-Lakers to take a slight delay to 7:15 p.m. for tip time. But reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a running shot to tie the game in Oklahoma City with two seconds left, and when Houston missed its shot at a game-winner, it forced announcer Mike Tirico to quickly inform viewers about the new plan for Warriors-Lakers.
As the Thunder and Rockets battled in overtime on NBC, Warriors fans may have missed some signature “first of the year” moments, including Steph Curry’s first 3-pointer and Draymond Green’s first technical foul. More than nine minutes of the game in Los Angeles elapsed by the time the Thunder and Rockets finished their first overtime also tied, forcing an even longer delay to the Warriors-Lakers game that took the entire first quarter off television airwaves.
NBC finally joined the action in Los Angeles after the Thunder won in double-overtime, after missing more than a third — 17 minutes and three seconds of the 48-minute game — of the Warriors-Lakers game. The network then used an entire media timeout to catch viewers up on what they had missed on their air in the game, which had the Warriors leading 37-31 at the time.
It should be an avoidable situation on future Tuesday nights for NBC, as there will be three-hour blocks for the games in their doubleheaders (though that does mean West Coast games will tip off at 8 p.m. local time). But for its first night back with the NBA, having an entire quarter of a premier matchup demoted to a streaming service seems suboptimal.
This developing story has been updated.
