The National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft is an annual event that dates back to 1947. During the draft, 30 teams from the NBA will be able to draft eligible players who wish to join the league. This year, the NBA Draft takes place on Thursday, June 23.

ESPN has held the full broadcast rights to the NBA Draft since 2002, and until recently viewers had to rely on a cable subscription to access the live coverage. Last year’s NBA Draft was the most-watched Draft telecast in history with an average viewership of 3,738,000, with viewers peaking at over 5 million.

We look at the various options available to live stream the NBA Draft without cable.

Cord cutters rejoice

If you are looking for ways to legally watch the NBA Draft online without a cable subscription, Mr. Cable Cutter, writing for CutCableToday, offers the following two solutions:

Sling TV

The NBA Draft will be shown live on ESPN, which is one of the channels included in the Sling TV package, among 20 others.

For $20 per month — with no contract — Sling TV subscribers have live access to a range of cable TV channels, including ESPN, TNT, AMC, and more. However, Sling TV also offers a 7-day free trial so you can actually sign up and watch the NBA Draft on Thursday free of charge.

You can watch Sling TV on a variety of devices including your iPhone, iPad, Android devices, PC or Mac. You can also live stream the NBA Draft on your TV using a streaming media player, like Roku, Amazon Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick, Xbox One, and Chromecast.

PlayStation Vue

An alternative streaming service is PlayStation Vue, which will also allow you to watch a live stream of the NBA Draft without cable.

PlayStation Vue’s basic package is slightly more expensive than Sling TV at $30 per month, but you do get access to 55+ channels including ESPN and ESPN2.

As PlayStation is slightly newer it is more restrictive than Sling TV. Options include PS3, PS4, iPhone, iPad, or on your TV through a streaming media player, like Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick or Chromecast.

Like Sling TV, though, PlayStation Vue also offers a 7-day free trial so you can live stream the NBA Draft at no charge.

NBA Draft schedule

The NBA Draft takes place on Thursday, June 23 at 7 pm EST. Full coverage of both NBA Draft rounds can be live streamed on ESPN. You can view the full NBA Draft board on the NBA website.

Leading up to the NBA Draft announcements at 7 pm there will be plenty of commentary throughout the day on both ESPN and SportsCenter.

Image via: NBA; Facebook