NBA announces major broadcasting change for 2024-25 season affecting Knicks and Timberwolves on live TV

NEW York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves fans are bracing themselves for lots of nationally televised action during the 2024-25 NBA season.

The two teams, alongside the Oklahoma City Thunder, have seen the largest increase in the number of nationwide broadcast games compared to the previous campaign thanks to their 2024 playoffs heroics.

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The NBA released the complete 2024-25 schedule on Thursday.

It showed the Timberwolves adding 15 extra national TV games, the most among all teams, per ESPN.

Minnesota will have 25 of them reach a nationwide audience, starting with the Opening Night matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers on the road on Tuesday, October 22.

The clash will be part of TNT Sports' primetime doubleheader, followed up by the Knicks taking on the Boston Celtics after the defending champion's ring ceremony at TD Garden.

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The Thunder, last season's No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, earned an increase of 12 national TV games, taking the total to 25 as well.

New York is third with a nine-game boost, scheduled to play with the entire country watching 34 times.

That makes the Knicks tied with the Celtics for the third-most nationally televised team in the league.

Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers and Houston Rockets added eight and nine primetime games, respectively, to their schedule.

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Indiana will play 14 national TV games while Houston will have 11.

As expected, the Lakers will be most prominently featured on national broadcasts during the 2024-25 NBA season.

LeBron James and Co. will play 39 games aired nationwide.

Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors rank second with 36.

Notably, no games at all will be played on 2024 Election Day as part of the league's initiative to encourage voters to cast their ballots.

The upcoming campaign will likely be TNT's farewell to live NBA action.

Highest contracts in NBA history

1. Jayson Tatum, Celtics - 5 years, $314 million
2. Jaylen Brown, Celtics - 5 years, $285.4 million
3. Nikola Jokic, Nuggets - 5 years, $276.1 million
4. Bradley Beal, Suns - 5 years, $251 million (signed with Washington)
5. Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves - 5 years, $244.6 million
   
   Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers - 5 years, $244.6 million

Per Spotrac

But Warner Bros. Discover has convinced Inside the NBA star Charles Barkley to stay with the company despite the show's uncertain future.

Barkley recently revealed he lost "a minimum of $100 million" by rejecting other networks' approach.

And he did it, Chuck explained, to provide job security for his TNT colleagues for at least another year.

"I want to thank all those networks for reaching out to me. It was really humbling and cool," Barkley told Dan Le Batard.

"But like I said, even though they were throwing crazy numbers, I was like, damn...

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"But as long as I got my people safe at TNT, man, I feel really good.

"Like I say, they're gonna pay me to go and talk about nothing. So I can't look a gift horse in the mouth."