Sky Sports and the NBA announced a four-year broadcast partnership. Sky Sports will broadcast over 170 live NBA games, as well as several weekend prime time games generally starting from 8:30PM UK time.

This is huge news for UK viewers after BT Sport lost the contract and there had been speculation it could have been picked up by Eleven Sports.

The four-year contract is also out of the norm for the NBA, which historically negotiates its UK contracts on an annual basis.

This is a huge coup for Sky Sports as it now has exclusive control of two out of the three major US sports, with BT Sport still holding the rights for Major League Baseball.

The partnership will also see Sky Sports present live coverage of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) from May 2019.

The 2018/19 NBA season is expected to be one of the best season’s this century, with new teams and a new crop of exciting young talent coming through the draft.

Everyone will be watching how LeBron James performs for the LA Lakers and whether he can take them into the playoffs. There will also be side stories of whether the Toronto Raptors have found their star man in Kawhi Leonard; how many games Golden State Warriors will lose this season; and if Giannis Antetokounmpo is capable of taking the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA Finals by himself.