Bypass NBA League Pass blackouts: Remove restrictions with a VPN

The 2024-25 NBA season is on the horizon, tipping off on Tuesday, October 22, 2024. While the NBA League Pass remains a go-to for catching the games, the nagging issue of blackout restrictions persists. In this post, we delve into the world of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to tackle this problem. Our findings? VPNs can be a serious game-changer.

By masking your geographical location, VPNs help you sidestep blackout restrictions, ensuring you don’t miss out on the live action, whether you’re out of state or overseas. As we lace up for the new season, let’s find out how VPNs can help keep the basketball fervor alive, bypassing those annoying blackouts on NBA League Pass.

How to bypass NBA League Pass blackouts with a VPN: a quick guide

Don’t have time to read the full article? Below, you’ll find a quick and easy step-by-step guide on how to bypass NBA League Pass blackouts.

Here’s how to bypass NBA League Pass Blackouts using a VPN:

1. First, sign up with a quality VPN that offers good speeds and lots of server locations (particularly in the US). We recommend NordVPN. However, Surfshark and IPVanish are reliable, great value alternatives worth considering.
2. Download and install the appropriate VPN mobile app, desktop app, or browser extension for the device from which you want to watch NBA League Pass.
3. Open the VPN app or browser extension and connect to a server in a location where the game is not blacked out. If a game is televised locally, you’ll want to connect to a server in another state. If broadcast nationally, connect to a server in another country, such as Canada or Mexico. This will get you a local IP address and trick NBA League Pass into thinking you’re in a different location.
4. Sign up for an NBA League Pass account if you haven’t already. It costs $16.99 USD per month with ads or $24.99/month ad-free. There’s also a full-season option at $109.99 (with ads) or $159.99 (ad-free). All plans come with a 7-day free trial.
5. Access the game as usual — it should now be unblocked! If you’re still having trouble, clear your browser’s cache and cookies. Alternatively, try another server in case the one you’re using has been blacklisted. All of the above-recommended VPNs offer 24/7 support should you require further assistance.

What is a live blackout, and why is it used?

Before each NBA season, various local and national broadcasting companies obtain the rights to televise NBA games live. The problem is that when these rights are exclusive, even the NBA can’t broadcast these games live online in that particular geographic market (instead, the games are only available on-demand three hours after they have aired). This means that it’s likely that your local teams’ matches will be blacked out. 

Let’s say you’re in Los Angeles, and your local Fox or NBC TV station has the exclusive live broadcasting rights to the Clippers and Lakers games. As there’s a local broadcaster in place, these games will be blacked out in LA and, as such, unavailable on the NBA League Pass. Likewise, if a game is broadcast nationally on, for example, ESPN or ABC, there will be a national blackout of the game.

NBA League Pass uses your IP address to determine your location. As such, when a local or national broadcaster has the exclusive rights to televise a game live, you may find the game blacked out on NBA League Pass. This is where changing your IP address with a VPN comes in useful!

Bypass NBA blackouts with a VPN

When we accessed NBA League Pass from New York, the following blackout notice was displayed:

“Based on your current location, you are unable to view live Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks games. You can listen to a live radio broadcast or watch an archive of these games 3 days after broadcast.”

However, local blackouts are not the only restrictions you’ll face with NBA League Pass. In fact, many nationally broadcast games are not included either:

“Games broadcast on ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBA TV will not be available to watch live on NBA League Pass. You can listen to a live radio broadcast or watch an archive of these games 3 hours after broadcast.”

So how can a VPN help you bypass NBA League Pass blackouts? When you connect to a VPN server, your internet traffic is encrypted. This makes it difficult for websites and services to know your true location. By connecting to a server in another US state or another country entirely, you’ll be assigned a new, temporary IP address. This will trick the NBA League Pass site into thinking you’re in another location, allowing you to bypass the blackout.

Bypass NBA League Pass blackouts via desktop

You can use your PC or Mac to bypass NBA League Pass blackouts. All you need to do is connect to a VPN server outside the blackout zone. For example, if it’s a local blackout, you’ll only need to connect to a server in another US state.

National blackouts are a little different. In this case, you’d have to connect to a server in another country. Ideally, this should be the country that is geographically closest yet still outside the blackout region. For example, if you’re in the US, you should try servers in Canada and Mexico. The blacked-out game should then be unblocked and it will therefore be possible to watch NBA games without cable. Remember to clear your browser’s cache and cookies if the content doesn’t load.

Bypass NBA League Pass blackouts on mobile

As with desktop devices, you can bypass NBA League Pass blackouts on mobile. However, it’s worth knowing that the NBA uses your phone’s GPS and location data to determine where you are. As such, some VPNs don’t work, particularly with the NBA League Pass apps. If you’re planning on watching via mobile, try using your phone’s web browser instead.

At the time of writing, the mobile apps of NordVPN, Surfshark, and IPVanish are all able to bypass NBA League Pass blackouts. If you’re still having problems, you can potentially spoof your phone’s GPS location. There are apps that allow you to do this (and Surfshark’s Android app has this capability built-in). However, most third-party GPS spoofing apps will require you to jailbreak your iPhone or root your Android device. Note that there are no guarantees that this will work. The process varies from one device to another, and some apps are a security risk, so please exercise caution.

Can I use a free VPN to bypass NBA League Pass blackouts?

Unfortunately, many free VPNs are unable to bypass NBA League Pass blackouts. One problem is that they often have only a small number of servers. As such, you may find your options limited when looking for a server in another US state or country. However, another issue is that free VPN servers suffer heavy load. This causes slow speeds, which is a particular problem when live streaming. Some free VPN services even throttle your bandwidth in an attempt to manage this, resulting in lag and buffering when watching NBA games online.

We also recommend against using free VPNs for security reasons. While a free VPN allows you access to all sorts of restricted content, it should also protect your privacy. This includes encrypting your data and protecting your personal information from leaks. Sadly, a lot of free VPNs don’t have such measures in place. After all, a free VPN is a business which means it may log your browsing history, selling it to third parties. You may also be bombarded with irrelevant, inappropriate pop-up ads. Overall, a free VPN just isn’t worth the hassle.

2024-25 NBA Season: The Hype Continues

The 2023-24 NBA season saw the Boston Celtics win their 18th title, an NBA record. It was a deserved victory for the Celtics, who finished the regular season with a record of 64-18, winning seven more games than the next-placed teams. Nikola Jokić, the season MVP, and top scorer Luka Dončić are sure to bring us more excitement in the 2024-25 season, which tipped off on October 22, 2024.

The 2024-25 season will run until April 13, 2025, and will feature an in-season tournament for only the second consecutive year. Another notable occurrence in this new season is that the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and Bronny James became the first father-son duo to play together in NBA history.

While the Lakers are outside favorites to win the 2024-25 NBA Championship, it’s last season’s winners, the Boston Celtics, who are favorites to win it all once again. However, they’re expected to be pushed all the way by last season’s runners-up, the Dallas Mavericks. Indeed, it’s no surprise to see that Jayson Tatum (Celtics) and Luka Dončić (Mavericks) are among the early MVP contenders.

Don’t want to miss out on any of the 2024-25 NBA season’s key events? Here’s what’s coming up:

Bypass NBA League Pass Blackouts FAQs