The NBA unveiled a little more of its 2025/26 regular season schedule on Tuesday, two days ahead of the release of the full schedule. In addition to confirming the opening night and Christmas Day matchups previously reported by Shams Charania of ESPN, the league announced several more games from the first week of the season, along with a four-game slate for Martin Luther King Day.
Here are the games officially confirmed by the league so far (via Twitter):
Tuesday, October 21:
- Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder (7:30 pm Eastern time)
- Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers (10:00 pm ET)
The NBA will return to NBC and debut on Peacock on Oct. 21 with a pair of star-studded matchups. Kevin Durant will return to Oklahoma City and make his Rockets debut after the Thunder are presented with their championship rings, then Stephen Curry and the Warriors will visit LeBron James and the Lakers as James begins his record-setting 23rd NBA season.
Wednesday, October 22:
- Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks (7:00 pm ET)
- San Antonio Spurs at Dallas Mavericks (9:30 pm ET)
ESPN’s first doubleheader of the season will feature the two teams widely expected to be the top Eastern Conference seeds in 2025/26, along with a matchup between No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg and No. 2 pick Dylan Harper.
According to the NBA (Twitter link), the Spurs/Mavericks game will be just the second time since 1966 that the top two picks in that year’s draft square off against one another in the first regular season contest of their careers. The only other time it happened was in 2015, when Karl-Anthony Towns‘ Timberwolves faced D’Angelo Russell‘s Lakers to open the season.
Thursday, October 23:
- Oklahoma City Thunder at Indiana Pacers (7:30 pm ET)
- Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors (10:00 pm ET)
ESPN’s second consecutive doubleheader will include a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals, followed by a showdown between three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and two-time MVP Curry.
Monday, October 27:
- Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons (7:00 pm ET)
- Denver Nuggets at Minnesota Timberwolves (9:30 pm ET)
Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, will regularly broadcast up to three games on Monday nights throughout the season. Their first Monday of the 2025/26 campaign will feature a doubleheader consisting of a Central Division battle and a Northwest matchup.
Thursday, December 25:
- Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks (12:00 pm ET)
- San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder (2:30 pm ET)
- Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors (5:00 pm ET)
- Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers (8:00 pm ET)
- Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets (10:30 pm ET)
ABC and ESPN will remain the home of the NBA’s Christmas Day games, which we discussed in greater detail last Friday.
Monday, January 19:
- Milwaukee Bucks at Atlanta Hawks (1:00 pm ET)
- Oklahoma City Thunder at Cleveland Cavaliers (2:30 pm ET)
- Dallas Mavericks at New York Knicks (5:00 pm ET)
- Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons (8:00 pm ET)
The Bucks/Hawks game on Martin Luther King Day will stream on Peacock, while the other three nationally televised MLK Day contests will also be available on NBC. Whereas the NBA’s Christmas Day features eight Western Conference teams and just two Eastern Conference clubs, the MLK Day slate goes the other way, with six of eight teams from the East.
In total, half of the league’s 30 teams are featured in this series of marquee nationally televised games. Notable omissions – based on projected record, star power, and/or market – include the Clippers, Grizzlies, Suns, and Pelicans in the West and the Sixers, Heat, Magic, and Bulls in the East.
