The NBA is currently in negotiations on its next television contract and Jimmy Pitaro of ESPN hopes to continue its partnership with the league.

Pitaro was asked by The Athletic if he could see any scenario in which ESPN wouldn't have a portion of the NBA's next media rights.

"I sure hope not. It’s an incredibly important property for us," said Pitaro. "We also see that property as ascending — younger demographics. Right now I think they have more parity than we’ve seen in a long time. We see young stars who are starting to catch on in the zeitgeist. We are incredibly excited about the NBA. We also like what we’ve done. We’re very happy with our team both in front of and behind the camera. I’m talking games. I’m talking about our studio programming.

"That being said, do we need to continue to innovate? (NBA commissioner) Adam (Silver) and I have talked about this. Yes. Are these alternative broadcasts that we’ve done solid? They absolutely are. Do we need to be doing more of them? Do we need to be thinking about more innovation around the primary broadcasts? We do. We can’t just sit idle here and be complacent. I know that there’s some discussion around the (ratings) comps to 2019, but we’re very pleased with our numbers for the NBA Finals, especially when you compare them to the past few years. Our sales team has been very happy with our ratings performance. We have a great relationship with the league, and I really want it to continue. Now, we have some time here. We still have three seasons left. So there’s no urgency. But we absolutely would like to extend our partnership with the NBA."