REPORT: Bally Sports Considering Dropping OKC Thunder Ahead of 2024-25 NBA Season

The Oklahoma City Thunder might need to find a new local television partner for the 2024-25 season.

Apr 21, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder mascot Rumble the Bison waves a giant flag before the start of game one of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports / Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder may need a new local television provider aimed the Diamond Sports/Bally's Bankruptcy. According to the Sports Business Journal, Diamond Sports is looking at dropping the regional sports rights to as many as five NBA teams.

One of the teams the company is contemplating dropping is the Oklahoma City Thunder. The other teams include the New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies and Detroit Pistons.

This has been something that has been building for many seasons with many team's already going alternative routes with their regional sports rights such as flushing out their own in-house network. This is the path the Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns have done.

The Thunder experimented with a similar option late in the 2023-24 season, hosting Friday night games on a local over-the-air station KSBI. Should Bally elect to pull the trigger on this decision, that seems like a potential permanent switch for Oklahoma City.

With the information currently available, no matter where the games are broadcasted fans should expect the same broadcast team consisting of Chris Fisher, Michael Cage, Nick Gallo and Paris Lawson. Just as that group broadcasted games on KSBI last spring, as team employees they can follow the organization to whatever platform is next.

According to the Sports Business Journal, the Thunder declined to comment on the matter as an organization, referring all questions to the league office. However, it was reaffirmed that this is not catching the NBA off guard.

The Pistons, Grizzlies and Thunder referred all RSN questions to the NBA, which declined comment, while the other two teams have not responded to interview requests. But given the tenuous nature of Diamond's long-term viability, sources said the league had already anticipated disruption in the RSN space this coming season, which is why last year it allowed each team to trial as many as 10 local over-the-air game broadcasts as a test case.

- Sports Business Journal

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