ABC will tip off coverage of its 21st consecutive NBA Finals tonight with Game 1 between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat. 

The NBA Finals features the Western Conference champion Nuggets — who are playing in the Finals for the first time in their 47 years in the league — against the Eastern Conference champion Heat, who enter the finals as the first eighth seed since the 1998-99 New York Knicks.

The league heads into the finals on a ratings roll. NBA playoff games averaged 4.7 million viewers across TNT, ESPN and ABC — up 13% from last year and its best performance heading into the finals since 2012, according to Nielsen numbers reported by Sports Business Journal.

The numbers were bolstered by a strong conference finals round that averaged 7.6 million viewers, up 10% from last year. TNT’s May 29 Heat-Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 telecast led all games with 11.9 million viewers, the most watched conference finals game on the network since TNT’s 2018 Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets game, according to SBJ. 

Last year’s Celtics-Warriors NBA Finals on ABC averaged 12.7 million viewers.

Veteran NBA announcer Mike Breen will call the games along with analysts Jeff Gundy and Mark Jackson, with Lisa Salters reporting during the telecasts. ABC will deploy 55 total cameras during the finals, including 15 Super Slo-Mo Cameras to capture the action, according to the network. 

ABC's NBA Finals Television Schedule (Start times EST)

June 1 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 pm

June 4 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 pm

June 7 -- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat, 8:30 pm

June 9 -- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat, 8:30 pm

June 12 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 pm (If necessary)

June 15 -- Denver Nuggets at Miami Heat, 8:30 (If necessary)

June 18 -- Miami Heat at Denver Nuggets, 8:30 (If necessary)

 The National Basketball Association will begin a shortened 2020-21 season on Dec. 22, league officials said Tuesday.

As part of an agreement in principle announced Wednesday by the league and the National Basketball Players Association, the league will play a 72-game season -- down from its traditional 82-game schedule -- beginning on Dec. 22. Full regular-season and broadcast schedules will be released at a future date, said league officials. 

The 2020-21 NBA season will begin less than 75 days after the league’s 2019-20 season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The league stopped play in March due to the pandemic but resumed play in July.

The NBA Draft will take place on Nov. 18, with free agency beginning on Nov. 20, according to the league. 

Comcast Ventures, the venture capital arm of Comcast Corp., said National Basketball Association player, author and entrepreneur Andre Iguodala has joined its Catalyst Fund as a venture partner.

Iguodala is a three-time NBA champion as a member of the Golden State Warriors and currently plays for the Miami Heat.  He has also served as first vice president of the NBA Players Association. The author of best seller “The Sixth Man,” Iguodala also is a successful entrepreneur and investor, funding more than 40 companies.As an investor and a member of the board of directors for Jumia Technologies, Iguodala helped the company grow and go public in April with a billion-dollar IPO.

The Catalyst Fund was formed in 2011 and has supported more than 70 startups with founders from diverse backgrounds through direct investments, and in partnership with leading accelerator programs. The Fund’s portfolio represents companies from multiple industries and sectors including gaming, DTC products, fintech, and enterprise applications.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andre to the Comcast Ventures team,“ said Comcast Ventures’ Head of Funds and Managing Director Amy Banse in a press release. “Andre’s investment experience and network, coupled with his passion for supporting entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, is a perfect fit for our Catalyst Fund. Together, we can offer early stage companies unique resources for growth, building on our vision of a startup ecosystem full of founders creating technologies for a diverse world.”

Iguodala joins principal Fatima Husain at the Catalyst Fund and will focus investments in companies founded by African American, Latinx, and female entrepreneurs. Husain joined Comcast Ventures in 2019 and was previously a Senior Growth Product Manager at Airbnb.

“I am excited to join the Catalyst and Comcast Ventures teams, which will provide me with the opportunity to advise and work with emerging entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds,” Iguodala said in a press release. “I have admired Comcast NBCUniversal’s commitment to invest in startups with founders who are typically underrepresented in the venture world. Together, we have unique experiences and resources no other venture firm has to help founders grow their companies.”

The Miami Heat has reached a multiyear media rights extension with Sun Sports. Under the pact, the regional sports network owned by Fox Sports will remain the exclusive regional TV home of the NBA squad.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but sources familiar with the negotiations indicate the deal may average upward of $35 million annually over its term.  At that level, the new pact would be akin to the deal Comcast SportsNet California inked with the Sacramento Kings this past summer and represent a significant uptick from the $20 million in rights fees the Heat was collecting under its old contract.  

In addition to televising live-game coverage and support fare of the Heat throughout the regular season, Sun Sports will also broadcast select first-round playoff games.  

The current Heat-Sun Sports deal still had a couple of seasons remaining, but the agreement maintains the television and marketing partnership that tipped between the Heat and then-Sunshine Network 22 years ago. 

"Extending our broadcasting agreement with Sun Sports is a perfect example of the stability and excellence the Miami Heat values so highly," said Eric Woolworth, president of The Heat Group's business operations. "For over 20 years, Sun Sports has been the place where Heat fans live. We're very proud that tradition lives on."  

“We are pleased Sun Sports will remain the local TV home of the Miami Heat for years to come,” said Steve Tello, senior vice president and general manager, Fox Sports Florida /Sun Sports.  “We want to thank Micky and Nick Arison, Eric Woolworth, and the entire Heat organization for their efforts in making this deal happen, and we look forward to bringing “Heat Nation” and Heat programming into homes of viewers throughout South Florida.”

Led by Chris Bosh (pictured), the Heat, despite losing LeBron James to his return to Cleveland, continue to perform very well with the Nielsens. Through the first three weeks of the current NBA campaign, Sun Sports has averaged a 6.72 household rating in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale DMA, the nation’s 16th largest DMA. That’s up 3% from the corresponding point of the 2013-14 NBA season.

Sun Sports has been near the top of the RSN rankings with NBA over the past few seasons. Upon James’s arrival for the 2010-11 campaign, the team’s telecasts averaged a 4.94 rating (3rd) and drew 78,000 households (6th). Those numbers climbed to a 6.59 (2nd) and 104,000 households (4th) the next year and then to a 7.07 (2nd) and 115,000 (3rd) in 2012-13. In what turned out to be James’s final run with the club -- one marked by four Finals appearances and two NBA championships --Heat games netted a 6.85 rating and 114,000 households, with Sun Sports finishing third with both measures among RSNs televising NBA contests.