NBC's NBA Showtime experiences technical difficulties, audio issues in 2025 debut

The NBA’s return to NBC hit a road bump in the road during its pregame coverage before Tuesday night’s season opener. The audio appeared to go out briefly during NBA Showtime, leading to confusion for some viewers.

Hopefully the network can get those issues sorted out before the time the first game between the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET. You can check out the technical difficulties below.

I absolutely love that the NBA on NBC is back.

But this is not a great start. pic.twitter.com/yYDrhsd25I

— Matt Burke (@matt_burke_44) October 21, 2025

The NBA makes its return to NBC this season after more than two decades. Some big names have signed on and former NBA stars Tracy McGrady, Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter were all part of the pregame coverage.

NBC also got legendary Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan to be a part of its coverage. It’s set to be a star-studded crew with Mike Tirico, Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford on the call for the first game of the evening between the Thunder and Rockets. After that, the Golden State Warriors will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the late game at 10 p.m. ET.

Bob Costas sheds light on Michael Jordan’s role on NBC’s NBA coverage: ‘He’ll be as good as he wants to be’

As the NBA makes its return to NBC, “His Airness” is taking center stage. Michael Jordan is part of the network’s coverage as a “special contributor,” and he’ll be doing an interview with Mike Tirico during Tuesday night’s tip-off.

However, there are still questions about what exactly Jordan will be doing for the network. Legendary broadcaster Bob Costas shed light on what Jordan’s role could look like.

Costas noted what Jordan means to NBC’s programming as the network gets the NBA back after two decades. But based on his candor during The Last Dance documentary, Costas thinks the all-time great could thrive even though he won’t be working every game for NBC.

“I’m not 100% sure what NBC’s overall plan is for using him,” Costas told Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel. “I know he’s not going to be on every game and he’s not going to be in the normal sort of role of sitting there at the desk. I think they’ll use him more selectively than that. But keep this in mind: When Michael wants to be he’s a very thoughtful observer of the game, and he expresses himself very well. I mean, think of him on The Last Dance.

“And whenever he sat down for an interview, not the courtside interview as the game has just ended, but a real interview, whether it was with me or Ahmad [Rashad] or whomever—I mean, he didn’t do them every week, there were too many demands on his time—but when he did them, he was really good. And he didn’t give boilerplate answers. He was thoughtful about it. So I think he’ll be as good as he wants to be.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.