We’re still a few weeks away from the 2026 All-Star break, but the NBA has already announced the schedule for the 2026 Finals, which will tip off on June 3.
Here’s the full schedule, per the league (Twitter link):
- Game 1: Wednesday, June 3
- Game 2: Friday, June 5
- Game 3: Monday, June 8
- Game 4: Wednesday, June 10
- Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, June 13
- Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 16
- Game 7 (if necessary): Friday, June 19
Typically, the NBA Finals schedule would be announced later in the year, but the league is making some slight tweaks to its usual format this season due to the fact that the FIFA World Cup will be taking place in North America around that same time, writes Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch.
As Lewis points out, the NBA Finals almost always begin on a Thursday, and the league typically would’ve scheduled Game 4 for Friday, June 12. However, the U.S. soccer team will face Paraguay on the evening of the June 12, so the NBA has opted not to go up against that contest.
The U.S. squad will also be in action on the following Friday (June 19), but that match vs. Australia will be a day game, so it wouldn’t overlap with a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
According to Lewis, this will be the first time since 1970 that the NBA Finals schedule doesn’t include any Sunday games. Saturday matchups, like this year’s Game 5, are also rare — only one has occurred since 1981, and that was in 2021, when the schedule was affected by a COVID-19 delay, Lewis notes.