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.
warriors will find out fast if they are contenders or pretenders. They will be playing 3 of the better teams in the west to start out.
You mean like last year, when they opened 12-3, then went 12-23, then finished 24-8?
3 game samples…not even once…
You forget Davy last year the warriors early schedule was against the weakest teams. The west is even stronger this year.
@arc89
They played 8 good teams (those with winning records) and 7 bad teams, including the Pelicans 3 times, the Jazz, Blazers, and Wizards.
That’s an average 15 game stretch for SoS.
You know Davey doesn’t care about facts lol.
Warriors need help if they are going to contend. Al is a big key for that. I’m seeing more and more stories about him retiring. Also I read he was promised 8 mill. I was under impression it was the mid level 5 mill plus. Cause 8 mill is definitely worth waiting for.
I think its 50/50 that he does sign with the warriors. I saw a rumor about the jazz making a offer for Kuminga. If some teams comes in a nd offer him a 3/75 contract he will leave. Kings are just hoping somebody takes DeRozan off their hands.
So, I read that they were offering Niang and 2 1sts. It might be worth it. Kuminga has never really helped the Warriors. It may hurt the Warriors this upcoming season. But, $25 million allotted for Kuminga, plus $10 million boost in the salary cap, plus $9 by letting Heild walk would be a nice chunk of change going into free agency next season. They’ll probably have all their exceptions. They need picks for the future.
Donovan is one of my favorite players. He’s a homey from NY. Grew up playing around city. It’s hard to root against him. Truth is Cavs are the team in the way. So Knicks have to show up when you play them.
Not enough news about Cavs imo. There is more news about breaking up the Celtics. Than there is about Cavs being top team in East. No respect …..
Their sites are about transactions and what goes on in the leagues and their administration. Everyone and their dead grandmother’s have a podcast about who is supposedly the best team. Why do they need to cover it here? It gets kinda boring.
HOW do you pass over Memphis for a game on MLK Day??
They’re playing in Europe on Jan. 15 and 18.
Umm…MLK Day is for his birthday. He was born in Atlanta. He was killed in Memphis, in April.