Miami Heat with intriguing, spotlight 2026-27 NBA schedule

MIAMI — The Miami Heat matter again.

A year after receiving only five national-television games when the 2025-26 NBA schedule was announced, this Heat this time around have been given 25 such appearances by the league.

To be featured across the broadcast spectrum on ABC, NBC, ESPN, Prime and Peacock, the respect is real when it comes to the pairing of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, even for a team coming off its first non-playoff season in seven years.

All games, preseason and regular season, will be telecast in South Florida — nationally, locally or both — with Local 10 WPLG to televise 66 games, with a Palm Beach affiliate soon to be in place for broadcasts in that market, as well.

Expected to again contend in the East, the Heat will be under pressure to produce early, with an opening six-game stretch that includes challenges against the Minnesota Timberwolves on opening night, the Detroit Pistons in their second game of the season and then the Los Angeles Lakers at the start of a six-game western swing,

In all, seven of the Heat’s first 11 games will be on the road.

After preliminary leaks of the Heat schedule, including all four of their NBA Cup games in pool play, the NBA on Thursday released 80 dates for the Heat, 40 at home and 40 on the road. Two additional games will be added in the period of Dec. 4-Dec. 10, depending on results in the NBA Cup, games that also count in the regular–season standings.

The Heat are scheduled to play each of the 15 Western Conference teams once at home and once on the road.

The Heat will play nine of the East teams twice at home and twice one the road. The exceptions will be only single visits to Kaseya Center by Boston, Cleveland and New York, and only single games in Chicago, Indiana and Toronto.

The Heat announced that ticket sales to the general public for regular-season home games at Kaseya Center will begin Friday at 3 p.m. at Heat.com and Ticketmaster.com. Tickets for the three home preseason games already are on sale.

Notable in the schedule released Thursday:

— The Heat are scheduled for 13 sets of back-to-back games, including five such pairings of home games on consecutive nights. They had 15 back-to-back sets the previous two seasons.

— The longest homestands are a pair of five-game runs, with the longest road trips a pair of five-game runs.

— The schedule includes the team’s first New Year’s Eve game since 2014, when the Heat play Dec. 31 at Oklahoma City.

— The Heat twice will play the same opponent in consecutive games, both at home, Dec. 21 and Dec. 23 against the Bulls and March 2-3 against the Raptors.

— In a scheduling quirk, the Magic, a rival the Heat often opens against, is not on the Heat schedule until Feb. 12, for the first of four matchups. The Heat by then will have completed season series against 11 opponents.

— By contrast, the Heat will complete their three-game season series against the Bulls on Dec. 23.

— The Heat’s final road game against the Western Conference will be March 19 in Phoenix, which also will be their final game west of the Central time zone.

— The Heat and Dolphins play on the same day five times (Nov. 8, Nov. 22, Nov. 29, Dec. 20 and Dec. 27) but the only day both teams are at home is Dec. 27, when the Heat host the Hornets at 6 p.m. and the Dolphins host the Chargers at 1 p.m.

— The Heat and University of Miami football team play on the same day twice (Oct. 31 and Nov. 14) but the only day they are both home is Nov. 14, when the Heat host Detroit at 8 p.m. and the Hurricanes host Duke at a time to be determined.