Day: November 14, 2023

Netflix has expressed interest in a broadcast deal for the NBA In-Season Tournament. To this point, Netflix has stayed out of bidding for live sports rights, but could jump in with the NBA’s media rights deals up for negotiation in April.

The streaming platform reportedly has interest in building a docuseries around the In-Season Tournament, similar to the one they have produced for F1. The “Drive to Survive” series has been wildly popular and has introduced a whole new set of fans to the sport.

It’s unclear if the NBA will break out the In-Season Tournament separately from the rest of its schedule. It is expected the league will consider multiple broadcast partners, and splitting the In-Season Tournament to its own package, would indicate a desire to expand beyond the recent partners of ESPN and Turner Sports.

Adam Silver was a guest on the NBC Sports Boston broadcast of Celtics-Knicks on Monday night. During the game, the topic of NBA expansion came up. Silver all but confirmed it’s on the NBA’s to-do list after they finish the new media rights deal.

Silver said that there are “couple of cities in the US” that the NBA will look at first. It’s expected those cities will include Seattle and Las Vegas. Silver was asked about international expansion. He said that Vancouver and Mexico City remain in consideration for NBA involvement.

Silver added that Montreal has reached out to the NBA to express interest in an expansion team. Silver talked about how rapidly the game of basketball has grown in Canada. He also mentioned how successful the league has been with the now-annual Mexico City game, as well as the G League presence in Mexico City.

Michael Malone and the Denver Nuggets have agreed to a contract extension that will make him one of the NBA’s highest paid coaches.

Malone helped guide the Nuggets to their first championship in franchise history last June.

The Nuggets hired Malone as head coach in 2015 after his brief stint with the Sacramento Kings.

Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, Steve Kerr, Rick Carlisle, Nick Nurse, Tyrone Lue and Frank Vogel are the other current head coaches who have won a championship as head coach.