Searching for how to watch the Hawks-Knicks series? Well, it’s not so easy.

New NBA broadcast contracts have spread NBA playoff games around to multiple networks.

Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker controls the ball against Milwaukee Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. during the first half in the annual MLK Game at State Farm Arena, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/AJC)

By AJC Sports

2 hours ago

NBA fans may be giving their TV remote controls a workout during the playoffs. And also testing their own patience with trying to figure out where and how to watch their favorite teams.

Long gone are the days of finding the playoffs on one or two standard over-the-air networks or even on cable. Recent years have seen the expansion to streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime.

The Hawks begin their playoff series Saturday against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, and that will be broadcast on Prime at 6 p.m. Game 2 will be Monday on NBC/Peacock, followed by Game 3 on Thursday at State Farm Arena on Prime again and Game 4 back to NBC/Peacock.

Keeping up?

The network merry-go-round has become the new normal for games in the play-in tournament, which have been on Prime as the newest entrant in the broadcast race. That trend continues in three of Saturday’s first-round playoff matchups, and ABC joins the fray with Game 1 of the Rockets-Lakers matchup.

ESPN will carry two of the first-round matchups, with the top-seeded Pistons in the Eastern Conference and the Thunder, the West’s No. 1 seed.

All of the shuffling comes in the aftermath of the NBA’s new TV-rights deal, which moves to national broadcasts for the postseason, leaving the local broadcasts behind.

In the first two playoff rounds, ESPN/ABC will broadcast approximately 18 games, NBC/Peacock will have about 28 games and Prime will have about one-third of the games.

That’s caused some friction, with some prominent broadcasters speaking out.

“I mentioned this earlier this season. I think personally … it’s a poor decision,” Knicks play-by-play announcer Mike Breen said in a broadcast conversation with Knicks color commentator and NBA legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier. “Fans want to hear their home team announcers, at least in the first round.

“For so many of us, they become part of the family. I get it. The networks pay a fortune for exclusivity, and I work for one of the networks, but fans deserve to be thrown a bone once in a while in terms of letting the home team have a little bit of the first round.”

Make sure to keep an extra set of batteries near the remote.