John Tesh Debuted The New Guitar-Heavy Version Of ‘Roundball Rock’

With NBC officially acquiring NBA rights for the first time in more than 20 years, we are also getting one of the greatest sports themes back in “Roundball Rock.” The iconic soundtrack to the NBA on NBC will indeed return in 2025, and NBC already brought it back for basketball during the 2024 Olympics in Paris. However, when it comes back in full for the 2025-26 season, it’ll have a slightly different sound, as John Tesh got back in the booth to re-record his legendary anthem.

On Thursday, Tesh joined the Dan Le Batard Show to premiere the new version of “Roundball Rock”, and it is a much more guitar heavy recording.

I will be interested to see how it’s received overall, because much of the allure of the NBA on NBC and “Roundball Rock” is the nostalgia people have for that specific era in the NBA, when Michael Jordan lorded over the league. While it’s not a surprise NBC and Tesh would look to refresh the sound of “Roundball Rock” for a modern era, people tend to not like change and I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s at least a little pushback — even though it’s literally the same song, just performed in a slightly different way.