The Sixers are back, but tonight’s game won’t air on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The 76ers return to the court to face the New York Knicks Friday night, but you won’t find the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia or anywhere else on TV.

Instead, Sixers fans will need to log in to Amazon Prime Video, which is streaming tonight’s game exclusively as part of a 11-year deal with the NBA that runs through the 2035-36 season and totals nearly $20 billion.

That means you’ll have to wait a day to hear from Sixers’ announcer Alaa Abdelnaby, who got into a back-and-forth with the league’s referees this week over a no-call at the end of Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Kate Scott, Abdelnaby’s broadcast partner on NBC Sports Philadelphia, will appear on Inquirer Live at 11 a.m. to speak with beat writer Gina Mizell.

It’s also unclear if Joel Embiid will take the court tonight. The Sixers big man is listed as questionable for the game due to an unspecified illness. Embiid, who is dealing with knee issues, has started 11 games for the Sixers so far this season, including four of their last five. He put up a season-high 39 points in the Sixers’ win against the Indiana Pacers last Friday night.

Unlike Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, which broadcasts NFL games locally in the teams’ home TV markets, the only way to watch tonight’s Sixers game is to log in to Prime Video.

The good news is, if you already have Amazon Prime for free shipping, you also get Prime Video for free. Otherwise you can subscribe to Prime Video on its own for $8.99 a month.

Sixers fans will also need to log in to Amazon next week. Philly will be back on the subscription streaming service Friday, Dec. 26, to face the Chicago Bulls.

Then there’s Peacock, which is also streaming exclusive NBA games this season as part of NBC’s deal with the league. Sixers fans will need to log on to stream the team’s matchup with the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 5, but that’s a problem that can wait until next year.

Calling tonight’s Sixers-Knicks game on Amazon will be former TNT announcers Ian Eagle and Stan Van Gundy, with Cassidy Hubbarth reporting from the court at Madison Square Garden.

Eagle is among the top play-by-play announcers in all of sports. In addition to his role at Amazon, Eagle also calls NFL games for CBS alongside J.J. Watt and has been the voice of the Brooklyn Nets on the YES Network for more than 30 years.

As with the NFL, Amazon has quickly put together a fun pre- and postgame show on a wild, two-story set hosted by Taylor Rocks. Tonight’s studio analysts will be former NBAers Blake Griffin, Steve Nash, and Udonis Haslem, who still holds the record as the longest tenured undrafted player in league history (20 seasons).

Tonight’s Sixers’ game is the first of a doubleheader that will stream on Amazon tonight, followed by a Western Conference matchup between the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder (who have lost just two games this season) and the Minnesota Timberwolves.