LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers take on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder today in what could easily be a first-round playoff preview.
The game starts tips off in under an hour, at 10:30 p.m. ET. It will be televised locally on Bally Sports Oklahoma (Thunder market) and Spectrum SportsNet (Lakers market), and it will be on NBA TV everywhere else. Fortunately, no matter where you live, there are some different options for watch a free live stream of the game.
If you want some free options, you can head to the next section. If you want a killer deal for one month, Sling TV has one going on right now. The “Sling Blue” channel package plus the Sports Extra add-on, which includes NBA TV and 55-plus other live TV channels, is normally $51 per month but is currently available for just $26 for your first month.
Moreover, the Paramount+ With SHOWTIME, Starz, AMC+ and MGM+ add-ons are all free for your first month. If you want as much content for the cheapest price possible–for one month, at least–this is the way to go.
If you aren’t concerned with any fancy deals or add-ons and you just want to watch the Thunder vs Lakers for free, there are four different ways you can do exactly that:
Fubo: With the “Pro” channel package and the “Sports Plus wid NFL RedZone” add-on, you’ll get about 200-plus total channels, including Bally Sports Oklahoma (local markets only) and NBA TV. This option comes with a seven-day free trial.
DirecTV Stream: There are four different channel packages available. With “Choice” and up, you’ll get 105-plus total channels, including Spectrum SportsNet (local markets; this is the only streaming service with this channel), Bally Sports Oklahoma and NBA TV. This comes with a five-day free trial.
YouTube TV: The “Base Plan” comes with 100-plus total channels, including NBA TV, but Spectrum and Bally Sports are not available. This comes with a five-day free trial, and you can also watch for 20 minutes before signing up.
Prime Channels: If you’re a Prime subscriber (it comes with a 30-day free trial if you’re not), you can watch a live stream of NBA TV via Prime Channels. It comes with a seven-day free trial.
A virtual private network (VPN) is good to have for providing you security and privacy online, but it can also be a key tool for streaming. VPN’s hide your IP address and connect you to a server in a different location, allowing you to stream content as if you were physically located in that location. So, say you have Fubo but you’re currently in Europe, you can connect to a US-based server through a VPN and then watch the game as if you were back at home.
NordVPN is our recommendation due to its reliability, speed and massive number of servers (you can also connect to a server in a different state to get around any potential local blackouts). But if you want to shop around, you can take a look at our guide to the best VPN services available right now.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.