How to stream basketball on the Roku platform

Between the NBA and NCAA basketball there are great games going on each night of the week. And in order to get the full experience, you need to watch as many games as you can live.

Of course, the most common way to watch basketball games is on TV through your cable or satellite subscription. However, this won’t always work for everyone. Maybe you cut the cord and are looking for a way to watch live. Or perhaps you don’t have a specific channel and you’re looking to stream a game.

Luckily, Roku streaming players and Roku TVs offer multiple ways to watch basketball with or without cable. You just need to know which streaming channels to use. With that in mind, here are some of the best channels available on Roku devices to stream live basketball games.

If you have a cable, satellite, Sling TV or PlayStation Vue subscription:

WatchESPN – This is one of the channels on the Roku platform that can be watched with either a cable subscription or if you cut the cord. You can access using credentials from Sling TV or PlayStation Vue. In some cases, certain internet service providers even offer WatchESPN (only ESPN3 though) for free. And if you’re a cable subscriber, simply use those credentials to login and start streaming.

What’s available on WatchESPN is dependent on what you use to sign in. But, often times you could watch whatever game is being broadcast on channels like ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3. ESPN also simulcasts games that appear on ABC. That amounts to a solid number of NBA games and likely a ton of college games each year.

FOX Sports GO – This is another channel that can be access with either a cable subscription or through a streaming service, like PlayStation Vue. This channel will be huge for anyone who lives in an area that their local NBA team is broadcast on FOX Sports regional networks. And, there may even be some NCAA games that come on these networks depending on your location.

Without a cable or satellite subscription:

NBA – The NBA Channel is incredibly helpful for anyone who has a subscription to NBA League Pass ($199.99). This is the Roku channel you’ll want to add to sign into your NBA League Pass subscription and watch endless amounts of live basketball. NBA League Pass is one of the best services out there for basketball fans and not even cable can match the amount of games you can watch on the service. If you don’t have NBA League Pass, the NBA Channel can still be used to keep up with live scores, watch highlights, and track stats. Note: NBA League Pass is subject to blackouts. More info on that here.

Sling TV – This is a service that solves a lot of problems for cable cutters. It gives subscribers (subscriptions start at $20 per month) the ability to stream over 30 cable channels with the starting package and all the way up to 100 channels if you go all in. The two starting packages are only $20 or $25 per month, so it can be much cheaper than the alternative cable subscription. Channels you can watch that will likely have NCAA and NBA games are ESPN, ESPN2, TBS, TNT, FS1, FS2, NBCSN, and a wide variety of regional FOX Sports broadcasts. And most recently, Sling TV has become the first cord cutting service to offer NBA TV, which is available with the Sports Extra add-on package.

PlayStation Vue – A similar service to Sling TV, PlayStation Vue lets subscribers stream a large number of cable channels. The packages start at $29.99 per month and include 45+ channels such as ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 and FS2. There is a lot of channel overlap between Sling TV and PlayStation Vue. Both are great ways to watch basketball year long.

Now, it’s worth noting that while the NBA has its own streaming channel, this doesn’t exist for college. There’s no NBA League Pass equivalent. So if you need more detailed information for NCAA, check out this guide for how to stream college basketball.

Remember, if you’re going to be streaming a live basketball game would you rather try to watch it on your small laptop screen or watch it in HD on the big screen with a Roku device? It’s a pretty easy answer.