The Golden Age of the NBA on NBC, from 1990 to 2002, is remembered for iconic games and some of the biggest superstars in the history of professional basketball. But for fans who tuned in night after night, it’s also remembered for a piece of music that, over the course of the 1990s, became synonymous with great basketball action.
When NBC announced last year that it would once again team-up with the NBA and WNBA for basketball coverage beginning in the fall of 2025, a lot of fans hoped, even assumed, that the coverage would include “Roundball Rock,” the theme music for the previous era of the NBA on NBC. Now, it’s official: “Roundball Rock” is coming home.
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“Roundball Rock” officially named theme song of NBA on NBC
NBC announced Saturday, during its annual coverage of the Kentucky Derby, that the iconic theme has officially returned to the NBA on NBC umbrella, and debuted a new TV spot featuring the music, composed by broadcaster and musician John Tesh. The TV spot features various celebrities, including NBA superstars and Tesh himself, humming and playing the theme music, and you can check it out below.
“It’s a thrill to announce that ‘Roundball Rock’ is coming home,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said in a press release. “’Roundball Rock’ is one of the greatest pieces of theme music in sports history. Hearing it immediately conjures images of NBC Sports’ coverage of one of the Golden Ages of the NBA, from Magic to Michael to Kobe and many others. It was a pleasure working with John Tesh to bring ‘Roundball Rock’ back to NBC, and we’re equally excited to hear its debut on Peacock. We couldn’t imagine beginning our coverage any other way.”
In an interview with The Ringer, Tesh explained the birth of “Roundball Rock,” which came while he was in Europe covering the Tour de France. After a phone call from NBC came in offering him the job of composing new theme music for the NBA, Tesh woke up in the middle of the night with a melody in his head, and no way to record it.
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“My synthesizers were in the production truck. I didn’t have any manuscript paper,” Tesh said. “But even if I did, with a musical theme, when you write down the notes, you don’t always capture its essence. I didn’t have a tape recorder with me. And no cellphone. I had nothing — nothing! The only way to record the idea was to call my Radio Shack answering machine back in Los Angeles. It took me two messages to get the whole thing out.”
When Tesh finally laid the track down, it was a success, and became inseparable from the rest of the NBA on NBC broadcast. Now, when the league returns to the NBC airwaves in 2025, it’ll bring “Roundball Rock” with it once again.
The NBA returns in October 2025 to NBC and Peacock.
