The NBA is nearing agreement with ESPN and Amazon on media rights deals for the WNBA.

The league has reportedly prioritized including the WNBA media rights as part of its next NBA deals. The NBA is also potentially maximizing the timing for the value of the WNBA as Caitlin Clark enters the league.

Details on the number of games in the regular season and playoffs that will be broadcast by both companies are still being determined. 

The NBA's new media rights deals could surpass $7 billion per season, which would represent an increase of nearly 170 percent from its current $2.6 billion per deals with ESPN and TNT. According to reported figures, the combined rights fees from ESPN, Amazon and NBC (or TNT) are at $6.9 billion per season.

Amazon will pay approximately $1.8 billion per season, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. The deal will include the Conference Finals every other year as they will alternate with whoever wins the third rights between NBC and TNT. It also will include the NBA Cup and In-Season Tournament. 

TNT can match NBC's offer of $2.5 billion per season and talks are ongoing.

ESPN's deal with the NBA, which includes the Finals and Conference Finals on an annual basis, will cost $2.6 billion per year.

A report in 2021 indicated that the NBA was seeking anywhere between $7 billion and $8 billion per year on its next deal. After a 2023 report cooled those expectations with a doubling of the current deal a more probable target, the NBA appears to be close to reaching its goal.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirmed that talks with the NBA to keep games on TNT are ongoing. NBC has offered the NBA $2.5 billion per season to essentially replace TNT as the league's other primary partner alongside ESPN. Amazon will likely enter as a partner for the NBA and broadcast both the NBA Cup and Play-In Tournament.

“We continue to be in constructive negotiations with the NBA,” Zaslav said Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California. “It’s a great league. The TNT team does a terrific job. And we love the NBA.”

WBD maintains matching rights with the NBA as one of their existing partners.

WBD’s stock has lost nearly one-third of its value so far this year, with a drop of nearly 10 percent last week driven in part by reports the network could lose the NBA rights. 

During an interview in November 2022, Zaslav said “We don’t have to have the NBA.”

Comcast’s NBCUniversal is prepared to pay an average of about $2.5 billion per season to air a package of NBA games.

Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of TNT, has paid an average fee of $1.2 billion per season under its current deal. WBD has the right to match any third-party offer.

NBC's package would include two regular season nights per week and playoff games. NBC could also air games on its Peacock streaming platform.

ESPN is expected to pay an average of $2.6 billion, which is up from $1.5 billion from its current deal.

Amazon is also expected to partner with the NBA for media rights.

The NBA and ESPN have agreed on the framework on a new broadcast deal that will allow the network to retain The Finals.

ESPN and TNT had exclusive negotiating rights with the NBA until this week.

ESPN became home of the NBA Finals in 2002 after they replaced NBC.

The NBA and Amazon Prime Video have the framework of a deal to make the streaming service one of the primary broadcast partners for the league over the next decade.

Prime Video will at least join ESPN as an NBA broadcast partner, as Disney also has a framework of a deal in place with the league. ESPN/ABC are expected to retain the Finals as part of its new deal. In one arrangement, ESPN will cut down from around 100 games to around 80, according to executives briefed on the talks.

Prime Video’s package will include significant regular season and postseason games, perhaps even some conference finals. Prime could broadcast Thursday night games beginning in January as a continuation of its sports programming schedule coming out of the NFL season.

The deal will begin in 25-26 and last for at least a decade.

The NBA is finishing up nine-year deals that pay it $2.6 billion on average from ESPN and TNT. In 2007, the NBA extended with ESPN and TNT on a deal worth $930 million per year through 15-16. The deal beginning in 2002 was worth $766 million per year.

The NBA would like to have at least three companies involved in its new deals, which will leave TNT to likely face off with NBC for the final package. Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of TNT, has the right to match deals.

While ESPN and TNT didn't extend their media rights deals with the NBA before their exclusive negotiating window closed, sources tell Front Office Sports that both networks have matching provisions that allow each an opportunity to respond to outside bids before contracts are finalized. The provision applies to both streaming and linear rights packages.

The NBA currently gets nearly $2.7 billion annually from its nine-year $24 billion deals with ESPN and TNT expiring at the end of next season and a doubling of that annual average is possible. 

The NBA has been tied to WBD in various ways since 1984, while ESPN has been a partner for more than 20 years. ESPN also provides significant programming beyond live sports that help promote the league.

The Minnesota Timberwolves' ongoing ownership dispute will have an initial mediation session on May 1st. 

Glen Taylor voided a deal to sell a majority stake in the Wolves to a group led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez after he asserted they failed to meet contractual deadlines.

Lore and Rodriguez are disputing Taylor's position as they attempt to finalize their purchase of the Wolves. 

Lore and Rodriguez agreed to purchase the Wolves in 2021 at a valuation of $1.5 billion. The deal allowed them to purchase 20 percent of the team in July 2021, 20 percent more in 2022 and 40 percent more in 2023.

Players in the NBA playoffs will split a pool of $33.7 million this season with each team receiving shares based on how far they advance. This pool money represents an increase of 25 percent from last season.

The team payouts will range from $452,708, approximately $30,000 per player based on a 15-player roster, to potentially $12.1 million ($804,000 per player) for the NBA champion.

With the Boston Celtics finishing the regular season with the best record in the NBA, they get a team share of $844,000 at the very start of the playoffs. Each team in the first round receives a team share of $453,000, which increases to $552,000 for the second round and $923,000 for the Conference Finals. The losing team in the Finals will receive $3,692,000, while the winning team in the Finals will receive another $8,549,000

The NBA's exclusive negotiating window with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery expires on Monday and sources tell CNBC that it will likely pass without a deal.

Both Disney and WBD are in active talks with the NBA to keep games on ESPN and TNT.

The NBA would like to bring in at least one new partner to serve as a flagship streamer.

Beginning on Monday, the NBA can open negotiations with Amazon, Apple, YouTubeTV, Peacock and Netflix, who have all had preliminary conversations about potential interest.

“We continue to have productive discussions with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery on a renewal of our media deals,” a league spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.

TNT has shown NBA games since 1988, while ESPN's deal with the league began in 2002.

The NBA is looking to double the $24 billion it generated from its previous media rights deal with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery by adding new partners and charging more for rights.

Last year’s NBA playoffs was the most watched in 11 years across TNT, ABC, ESPN and NBA TV, according to Nielsen.