ESPN dropping paywall on NBA content as ESPN+ fades

For NBA fans, the days of running into an ESPN paywall when trying to read about their team are coming to an end.

According to Awful Announcing, ESPN has moved away from placing written content behind its ESPN+ subscription and is now making most new articles — including NBA coverage –free again. The move reverses a 2020 decision that sent stories behind a paywall in hopes of driving ESPN+ subscriptions.

The timing is telling. ESPN+ appears to be on the way out as a standalone product. Subscriber numbers have been slipping, the UFC is leaving the platform in 2026, and ESPN has already pulled back from offering exclusive games there. Landing pages for ESPN+ have even been replaced by redirects to the company’s new flagship app.

Writers were never thrilled about the paywall in the first place, and neither were readers. Many joined ESPN because their work would reach the widest possible audience, only to see that audience shrink once it went behind a login screen.

Now, with ESPN shifting its focus to direct-to-consumer streaming and the main ESPN app, the walls are coming down.

That matters for NBA fans in particular. ESPN and ABC remain part of the league’s new media rights deal, alongside NBC and Amazon. Written coverage is a key part of that presence, and removing the paywall could help ESPN stay front and center in a crowded NBA media landscape.

For fans, it means no more passwords or forgotten subscriptions just to read about last night’s game. For ESPN, it signals a bigger pivot: ESPN+ is slowly being folded into the main brand, and with it, paywalled NBA content becomes a thing of the past.