NBA to partner with Twitch to stream G-League games, according to report

The way basketball is played has changed drastically over the last few years. Now, the way we watch it might evolve in the same way.

The NBA has reached a deal with Twitch to broadcast live NBA G-League games on its streaming service, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The platform is typically used for E-sports, but has broadcast an NFL game in the past.

According to the report, Twitch will broadcast up to six NBA G-League games per week starting this Friday. But the look and feel of it won’t be typical.

“They won’t look or sound like a typical NBA production. The traditional broadcast will be supplemented by streams with commentary from established Twitch broadcasters,” Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal wrote.

This could be the start of a sea change for sports viewing — or maybe it’s nothing. Either way, the NBA wants to find out.

Twitch is an online streaming digital video service where creators can broadcast streams to the public and interact with them at the same time. Typically, it’s used for video games, but it’s also been deployed for music, different video series, and talk shows.

Interactivity and second-screen viewing is a staple of Twitch. Viewers will be able to engage with broadcasters while watching the game via livestream, and that’s something the NBA never had before.

Rather than calling the game through traditional color and play-by-play analysis, Twitch creators will have the opportunity to talk their audience through the game while answering questions live. There will also be supporting real-time graphics used via Twitch to amplify the viewing experience, according to the report.

It won’t be your typical NBA broadcast. You’ll have Twitch creatives calling your games, according to the report, and there will be multiple streams to choose from for each game.

You could watch one stream where someone who is heavy in analytics is calling the game. Maybe down the road, you can watch a Cavaliers game with a huge LeBron James fan streaming it. Some streamers may be heavy with audience interaction and some may keep it light.

“You might find one creator who is a stats geek and wants to dig into the numbers, or you might find somebody else who wants to do something that has more of a comedic presentation,” said NBA senior vice president Jeff Marsilio said in the WSJ report.

It could. The NBA has been known to roll out some experiments with the G-League on and off the court, and that isn’t changing here. The league has partnered with YouTube and Facebook to stream G-League games before, but that practice has not occurred in the NBA itself.

Twitch could be different, though. With the NBA 2K league quickly coming to fruition, Twitch could become a huge partner for the NBA. It wouldn’t be surprising if this partnership expands beyond just the G-League.

But it’s way too early to tell — G-League streams haven’t even started just yet. And there will probably be kinks that need to be worked out before the league even considers using Twitch for actual NBA games.

Regardless, the league will continue to experiment with the way we consume its product. Good or bad, it’s nice to see something different every once in a while.