Look, trying to figure out how can i watch the spurs game in the Victor Wembanyama era has become a whole thing. It’s not like the old days when you just flipped to channel 2 and hoped Bill Land was on the call. Now, you’ve got regional blackouts, national TV exclusive windows, and about five different streaming apps fighting for your twenty bucks a month. If you're sitting on your couch in San Antonio—or anywhere else, honestly—and staring at a "This content is not available in your area" screen, you know exactly how frustrating this is.
The NBA's broadcast landscape is a mess.
Basically, whether you can see Wemby’s latest logic-defying block depends almost entirely on your zip code and how much you're willing to pay for "convenience." Let’s break down the actual, real-world ways to get the game on your screen without losing your mind.
The Local Struggle: FanDuel Sports Network and the Bally Rebrand
If you live in the San Antonio market, you’re likely dealing with the remnants of the Diamond Sports Group saga. For a long time, it was Bally Sports Southwest. Now, it's transitioned into FanDuel Sports Network. This is the primary home for almost every local Spurs broadcast. If you have a traditional cable package like Spectrum or DirecTV, you're usually fine. You just find the channel and sit down.
But what if you cut the cord?
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That’s where it gets annoying. You can subscribe to the FanDuel Sports Network app directly as a standalone streaming service. It’s pricey—usually around $20 a month. Honestly, it’s a lot to ask for just one team, but if you want every single non-national game, this is the most direct route for locals. Just keep in mind that these apps are notorious for glitching right when the fourth quarter gets interesting.
Why NBA League Pass is Both Great and Terrible
For fans living outside of Texas, NBA League Pass is the gold standard. It’s relatively cheap compared to a full cable bill, and you get access to basically every team in the league. If you’re a Spurs fan living in, say, Chicago or New York, you just open the app and you’re good to go.
However.
The blackout rules are brutal. If the Spurs are playing the team in your local market (like the Bulls or the Knicks), the game will be blacked out on League Pass. You’ll have to watch it on whatever local channel carries that specific opponent. Even worse, if the game is on "National TV"—meaning ESPN, TNT, or ABC—it won't be live on League Pass at all. You have to wait until the "archive" version is uploaded, which is usually a few hours after the final buzzer. By then, your phone has already buzzed with the final score, ruining the whole experience.
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National TV Windows: The Wemby Effect
Because the Spurs have a generational talent, they are getting way more national TV slots than they did three years ago. When the game is on ESPN or TNT, the rules change again.
- YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV: These are the heavy hitters. They carry ESPN and TNT, making them a safe bet for national games. They also occasionally carry the local sports networks, though that's been hit or miss lately due to contract disputes.
- Sling TV: This is the "budget" option. If you get the Orange package, you get ESPN. If you get Blue, you get TNT. To get both, you’re basically paying the same price as the bigger streamers.
- Max (formerly HBO Max): This is a sneaky good option. Because of the Turner Sports deal, Max often streams the TNT games live. If the Spurs are on TNT, you might already have access through your movie streaming subscription.
The Gray Area: Antennas and KENS 5
Sometimes, the simplest way is the best way. A handful of Spurs games every season still air on local broadcast television, specifically KENS 5 in San Antonio. You don’t need a subscription for this. You just need a $20 digital antenna from a big-box store.
Stick it in your window, run a channel scan, and you might get lucky. It doesn't happen every night, but for those specific "Family Night" or weekend broadcasts, it’s the only way to watch the game for free. Plus, the picture quality of over-the-air HD is actually better than most compressed cable feeds. There’s no lag, no buffering, and no "checking your connection" circles of death.
Dealing with the Blackout Logic
It’s helpful to understand why this is so complicated. The NBA sells "territorial rights." If you are within about 75 to 150 miles of the Frost Bank Center, the league considers you "in-market." They want you to buy a ticket or subscribe to the local carrier.
If you try to use a VPN to get around this on League Pass, be careful. The NBA has gotten much better at detecting VPN server IP addresses. Sometimes it works, sometimes you end up with a black screen and a wasted Saturday night. It’s a cat-and-mouse game that most fans find more exhausting than it’s worth.
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Watching the Spurs While Traveling
If you're on the road, your best bet is usually a mobile app tied to your home provider. If you have DirecTV or YouTube TV at home, their apps usually let you watch on your phone or tablet. But again, GPS tracking is a thing. If the app sees you are in a different city, it might change your "local" channels to that city's affiliates.
I’ve spent many nights in hotel rooms trying to trick my phone into thinking I was back in Bexar County just to hear Sean Elliott’s commentary. It rarely works. Your best bet in a hotel is usually finding a sports bar or hoping the hotel TV has ESPN.
What Most People Get Wrong About "Free" Streams
You’ll see links all over social media promising free HD streams of the Spurs game. Just don't.
Most of these sites are absolute minefields of malware and aggressive pop-ups. Even if the stream works, it’s usually two minutes behind the actual live action. You’ll get a text from your friend saying "WEMBY JUST HIT A STEP-BACK THREE!" while your screen still shows a commercial for truck tires. It ruins the tension. If you're going to invest your time in a 2.5-hour basketball game, having a stable, legal feed is worth the few bucks or the effort of finding the right app.
Step-by-Step Action Plan
- Identify your location first. If you are in San Antonio or Austin, your default is FanDuel Sports Network or a cable provider like Spectrum.
- Check the schedule for the "National" tag. Look at the Spurs' official site. If you see ESPN, TNT, or ABC next to the game, put away the regional apps and pull up your cable/live-streaming service (Hulu, YouTube TV, etc.).
- Audit your existing subscriptions. Check if you have Max (for TNT games) or Disney+ (which sometimes bundles ESPN+ content, though rarely live NBA games).
- Invest in a digital antenna. It is the only "one-time fee" way to catch the occasional local broadcast without a monthly drain on your bank account.
- Verify the tip-off time. Remember that "7:00 PM" usually means the ball doesn't actually go in the air until 7:12 PM. Use that extra ten minutes to troubleshoot your login credentials before the action starts.