NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday night he expects the league's planned streaming hub for local broadcasts to launch in time for the 2027-28 season. Sources told Sports Business Journal that YouTube is currently viewed as a leading candidate to house the platform.

Following the collapse of Main Street Sports Group, 13 teams, including the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic and Spurs, will operate under one-year broadcast arrangements with various outlets this coming season. The Heat, Pistons and Bucks have already finalized deals with local over-the-air channels, while the remaining 10 teams will choose between free TV options or paywalled streaming services.

That structure is expected to evolve for 2027-28, when those 13 teams could be joined by NBC's regional sports network partners, the Celtics, Warriors, 76ers and Kings, along with over-the-air teams such as the Jazz, Suns, Trail Blazers, Pelicans and Mavericks. That expansion would push the hub past 20 participating teams. Whether additional franchises, including the Lakers, who are set to earn $199 million and $209 million in rights fees over the next two seasons, eventually join remains dependent on whether the league's streaming partner can match those figures.

A larger pool of participating teams would likely increase the rights fee a streaming partner pays for the hub. League Pass, which currently blacks out local broadcasts, is expected to remain intact through Amazon regardless of the hub's structure. The new platform is expected to be geofenced, meaning fans would need to access it specifically for local team broadcasts rather than league-wide game coverage.

Silver addressed the league's progress on the initiative during Tuesday's comments.

"In terms of local television, I feel we are making progress there, without being specific about some of the media companies who are demonstrating interest," said Silver. "If you look at this lifecycle of the streaming companies and their interest in live sports, it was only a few years ago when some of those same companies were saying that didn't make sense within their business models; that they didn't really see an opportunity to acquire these kinds of sports rights. And then just jump a little bit, a few years later, and you see almost all of them now are very much engaged.

"So again, it's a long way of saying that I think the communal aspect, the community aspect of local sports is critically important in this country. It's important for college sports. It's important for professional sports, and I think the media companies, you know, with streaming leading the way, are going to see that value in the marketplace. So I'm even more optimistic than last we spoke about this that we are going to see solutions for the league."

ESPN has also expressed interest in participating in the hub. Chairman Jimmy Pitaro addressed the network's ambitions Thursday during an event hosted by CNBC and Boardroom, according to The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov.

"We've made our intentions very clear with with every league, including the NBA, that we want to be part of the solution here," said Pitaro.

CNBC's Alex Sherman, who interviewed Pitaro at the event, said ESPN had no prior knowledge of YouTube's discussions with the NBA and indicated the network would be open to a non-exclusive arrangement shared with another partner.

The drop in revenue from local television deals has contributed to the NBA's slower than anticipated growth and believed to be contributing to the push for expansion.