1. If your favorite team is currently in the NBA playoffs, you have been able to enjoy your local broadcast of the games during the first round.
This is the last season, though, that you will be able to do that.
Beginning in the 2025–26 season, as part of the NBA’s new television deals with Amazon, NBC and ESPN/ABC, the first round of the playoffs will only be televised nationally.
Local broadcasters will be shut out of the postseason after this season’s first round.
Of course, this is a blow to fans who enjoy the same broadcast crew for 82 games. There are a ton of great national broadcasters in the NBA, but there’s nothing like your home crew, especially when it comes to a thrilling win for your team.
Just listen to the Pacers broadcasters, Chris Denari and Quinn Buckner, call the final 40 seconds, during which Indiana erased a seven-point deficit, before beating the Bucks on a Tyrese Haliburton layup with 1.3 seconds left. Their call captures everything fans love about their local broadcast crew.
The final 39 seconds of Bucks & Pacers 😱🍿 pic.twitter.com/ehMNC11pUt
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) April 30, 2025
What a way for the Pacers’ crew to go out when it comes to calling playoff basketball.
2. A trailer dropped Tuesday for Dwayne Johnson’s upcoming film, The Smashing Machine. If the job of a trailer is to get you to watch this movie, this one succeeded in a major way because I’m all in. Unfortunately, we have to wait until Oct. 3 for the movie’s release.
3. Meanwhile, Netflix released a trailer for an upcoming Brett Favre documentary and it looks like a rehash of the same old, same old.
Champion. MVP. Hall of Famer. But that's not the whole story.
— Netflix (@netflix) April 29, 2025
Untold: The Fall of Favre digs into Brett Favre's controversial career, the dark side of sports stardom, and the scandals that marred his legacy. Premiering May 20. pic.twitter.com/6RU6IGVx1Q
4. After Molly Qerim, on orders from producers, stopped Chris “Mad Dog” Russo from discussing Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend on First Take last week, the Doggie unloaded Tuesday on his daily SiriusXM show. The slow build to “10 YEARS OLDER THAN ME” was total perfection.
Radio Hall of Famer @MadDogUnleashed breaks down the completely ridiculous relationship between 73 year old Bill Belichick and his 24 year old gf. pic.twitter.com/zsWEgfZJMU
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) April 29, 2025
5. You’ve never seen a catch like the one Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho made on Tuesday night. Amazingly, this was Varsho’s 2025 debut after starting the season on the injured list.
HOW--- pic.twitter.com/ianiIVKdWe
— MLB (@MLB) April 30, 2025
6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with author and journalist Jim Miller.
Miller, who wrote the book on ESPN, shared his insight into numerous topics regarding the Worldwide Leader.
How will ESPN’s expected deal to acquire NFL Media, which includes NFL Network and the Red Zone channel, play out? What will ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product look like and what will the monthly cost be? After opting out of its deal with MLB, could ESPN end up signing a new deal with the sport?
In addition, Miller also weighs in on ESPN’s deal with Warner Brothers Discovery to air Inside the NBA, how ESPN’s partnership with Pat McAfee has gone and how ESPN views Stephen A. Smith’s possible presidential run.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: On this date in 2006, the Sopranos aired its “Johnny Cakes” episode. While the episode is known for Vito falling for the guy who made him the delicious breakfast treat, it was this scene, featuring gangsters trying to shake down a Starbucks-like coffee shop, that I’ll always remember.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pacers’ Surreal Win Over Bucks Makes Recent NBA Playoff Broadcast News Even Sadder.
