In late 2001 , the NBA was in the midst of putting together a new broadcast and cable television deal . At the time , conventional wisdom was that NBC would renew its existing broadcasting contract with the league . An October 5 , 2001 , '' Sports Business Daily '' article cited '' The New York Times '' sports columnist Richard Sandomir regarding the possibility of ESPN joining with ABC in obtaining a portion of the contract : The negotiations were closely watched by those in the business world , as it was the first time that a major sports league crafted a television deal in the new economic environment since the September 11 terrorist attacks a few months before . Declining ratings for NBC 's NBA game telecasts had already led many to believe that the NBA 's next television rights fee would be lower than previous years , and the economic recession made that a likely scenario . As predicted , NBC 's offer to the league was lower than the previous agreement 's amount . Had the NBA agreed to the network 's offer , it would have been the first sports league to experience a decline in rights fees . However , the NBA rejected NBC 's offer and after the network 's exclusive negotiating period with the league expired , ABC and ESPN stepped in . On January 22 , 2002 , the NBA signed a six-year deal with The Walt Disney Company and Turner Sports , which renewed an existing deal with TNT and allowed ABC and ESPN to acquire the rights to air the league 's games . ABC and ESPN reportedly paid an average of about US$ 400 million a season . Technically , ESPN pays the NBA for its broadcast rights and " buys " time on ABC to air select games ( this is noted in copyright tags during the end credits at the conclusion of the telecasts , saying '' " The preceding program has been paid for by ESPN , Inc. " '' ) In all , the contract allowed the NBA to increase its rights fees by 25 %
September 11 terrorist attacks
September 11 attacks
NBA on ABC