The NBA viewership is at a 15-year high courtesy of its newest $76 billion media deal, yet the issues for the fans continue. The local coverage often becomes the lifeline for many, but the failure of payment from Main Street Sports Group continues to haunt the league. Amid this, the Brooklyn Nets have found a new avenue to grow with little help from former player Kevin Durant.

The Nets have put a particular emphasis on TikTok, where they’ve racked up more likes than the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors combined. They are working with ScorePlay, a startup founded in France, headquartered in New York, and growing in the NBA. They are currently working with seven NBA teams with the aim of inking a third of the league by the end of the season.

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The rapid expansion is possible after the company raised $13 million in 2025, with buy-in from Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alex Morgan, Kevin Durant’s 35V, and Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six VC fund. Roughly 40% of NBA team revenues this year is coming from national and local TV deals. But the value doesn’t end there as the team-captured content increasingly fuels social media growth.

“We’ve continued to increase the volume of content we capture each year to meet growing demand,” Brooklyn Nets VP, content, Charlie Widdoes, proudly said. “The difference now is the breadth of how that footage is used.” Even NBA commissioner Adam Silver had previously emphasized the role of social media in the league’s growth.

“There’s a huge amount of our content that people essentially consume for free. This is very much a highlights-based sport, so Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, other examples that is advertising based that consumers can consume,” Silver said. Growth of social media comes at a time when the regional sports network model wobbles.

Strong viewership on one hand and issues on the other hand

FanDuel Sports Network reportedly missed January payments to several NBA teams. The network serves as a regional broadcast partner for as many as 13 franchises, making the issue hard to ignore as teams rely heavily on local media revenue. Main Street Group, owner of FanDuel, had recently renewed deals with the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, and Minnesota Timberwolves.

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The partnership with the NBA started way back in 2014. In 2017, the partnership also extended to the WNBA, and they became the first women’s sports league to collaborate with FanDuel, allowing the platform access to WNBA assets and highlights. The league has sent a default notice to Main Street, beginning a 15-day cure period. That’s why the NBA is preparing for the worst scenario, as they are readying themselves to take over production duties and distribution of local broadcasts for those 13 teams in question.

DAZN, which has the rights to live sports across the globe, is negotiating to buy FanDuel Sports Network. They already have regional TV rights to 30 NBA, NHL, and MLB teams. A tense situation awaits the commissioner. The league already has more than 87 million people in the U.S. who have watched the league across those platforms through the first two months of the season. That number is up 89% over last year. Many of the 13 franchises are figuring out their contingency plans should the network go dark.

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