Timberwolves and 76ers fans frustrated by broken NBA League Pass stream

Minnesota Timberwolves fans who went to watch Anthony Edwards make his preseason debut against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night were greeted with a banner reading “technical difficulties” as NBA League Pass, the NBA’s streaming service that will broadcast the game, had obvious problems, but these did not appear to be fully resolved by the end of the first quarter.

Fans trying to tune in may have seen little of the first quarter of Friday night’s game, as a rotating banner reading “technical difficulties” stole most of the show. The stream stopped intermittently and even when it was running there were still issues such as poor video quality and at one point there was no commentary during the stream.

While there were no television commentators at the game, which will also not be broadcast on Bally Sports North, audio from Wolves radio announcer Alan Hortan could be heard on the broadcast. At least that’s how it should be.

Both Timberwolves and 76ers fans took to social media to express their frustration over the loss. Paul George also made his debut with the 76ers in the preseason. “The NBA League Pass doesn’t work well. There may be no way to watch this game,” one fan posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. That wasn’t the only frustrated fan.

“NBA League Pass is TERRIBLE,” another fan posted. “…billions in sales and y’all having technical difficulties.”

Several other fans expressed frustration with the service, not only this year but in past years as well.

The Timberwolves’ official account on X confirmed the outage and urged fans to remain “on standby.”

NBA League Pass support also responded to a fan’s question about the issues.