2025/26 NBA Schedules By Team
The NBA announced its complete 2025/26 regular season schedule on Thursday.
The 80th NBA regular season tips off on October 21 with matchups between the Thunder and Rockets, and Warriors and Lakers. The regular season concludes on April 12.
The play-in tournament will take place on April 14, 15 and 17. Meanwhile, each team has two unassigned games due to the in-season tournament, the Emirates NBA Cup 2025, with those games to be played between Dec. 9-15.
Listed below are the links to every team’s full 2025/26 schedule, organized by conference and division. The full team-by-team schedules can be viewed in a single document here, and here is a link to the full schedule sorted by date.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
Central Division
Southeast Division
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division
Pacific Division
Southwest Division
League Announces 2025 NBA Cup Schedule
After previously announcing the dates and groups for its third annual in-season tournament, the NBA today revealed the schedule for the group play portion of the event. The group play stage of the tournament, which is formally known as the Emirates NBA Cup, will begin on October 31 and run through November 28.
The group play games will take place on five consecutive Fridays, with a handful of games also played on Tuesday, Nov. 25 and Wednesday, Nov. 26. The NBA has published its schedule by date, as well as its schedule by team.
Each Friday will feature a doubleheader on Amazon Prime, while NBC/Peacock will nationally broadcast a doubleheader on Nov. 25 and ESPN will air a tripleheader on Nov. 26. The full schedule of nationally televised NBA Cup games, starting with Celtics at Sixers and Lakers at Grizzlies on Oct. 31, can be found right here (Twitter link).
The NBA Cup quarterfinals will take place on December 9 and 10, with the semifinals to follow on Dec. 13 and the final to be played on Dec. 16. The higher-seeded teams will host the quarterfinal matchups, while the semifinals and final will take place in Las Vegas. Amazon Prime will broadcast all seven games in the knockout round.
West Group C, which includes the Nuggets, Rockets, Warriors, and Spurs, will be the most heavily featured group in nationally televised broadcasts — five of the 15 NBA Cup games on the national broadcast schedule will be matchups from that group, including three apiece for Houston and Golden State.
The Bucks, the champions of last year’s second annual in-season tournament, will be featured on Amazon in a group play game on Nov. 28 vs. the Knicks.
In addition to announcing the NBA Cup schedule, the league also revealed today that Amazon Prime’s first Friday doubleheader of the season, on October 24, will feature a pair of playoff matchups from this past spring (Twitter link). The Celtics will visit the Knicks at 7:30 pm Eastern time, with the Lakers hosting the Timberwolves at 10:00 pm ET.
[RELATED: NBA Reveals Opening Week, Christmas Day, MLK Day Matchups]
The full NBA regular season schedule for 2025/26 will be announced on Thursday.
NBA Reveals Opening Week, MLK Day Matchups
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.
NBA To Announce Regular Season Schedule On Thursday
The NBA will unveil its full schedule for the 2025/26 regular season on Thursday (August 14), according to an announcement from the league (Twitter link).
The NBA typically leaks several marquee games during the week before its full schedule announcement, and that trend has continued this August.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Friday that the opening night schedule this fall will consist of Rockets at Thunder and Warriors at Lakers. He also confirmed the five Christmas Day games, which feature four Western Conference showdowns and just a single Eastern Conference matchup.
The league also indicated today that it will provide a sneak peek at a few more notable matchups on Tuesday during Good Morning America (ABC) and The Today Show (NBC). Those games announced on Tuesday will all be airing on ESPN/ABC or NBC/Peacock.
A year ago, the NBA also put out the full schedule for the Emirates NBA Cup a couple days before the rest of the regular season slate was revealed. It’s unclear if that’s the plan again this time around, but if so, that NBA Cup schedule should be released within the next 24-to-48 hours.
Christmas Day Schedule Includes Thunder-Spurs, Rockets-Lakers
The NBA’s highly anticipated Christmas Day schedule has been revealed, courtesy of ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter). The five-game slate is heavy on Western Conference powerhouses, with just one game coming from the Eastern Conference, in a matchup of what is expected to be the top two teams in the Cavaliers and Knicks.
This will be the first Christmas Day game for the Cavaliers in the post-LeBron James era, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Their last December 25 game came in 2017.
Following the Eastern Conference matchup, the Spurs will travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder, as Victor Wembanyama squares off against Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams.
Kevin Durant and the Rockets will then duel LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers in a clash of teams balancing championship aspirations with their Hall-of-Fame veterans and younger future-facing casts. The Rockets last played a Christmas Day game in 2019, writes Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle.
The final two matchups of the night will see the Mavericks face off against the Warriors, and finally, the Timberwolves going up against the retooled Nuggets in a battle of Northwest Division powerhouses.
As Marc Stein notes (via Twitter), between the Christmas Day schedule and the reported opening night schedule, the league has chosen not to highlight a Mavericks-Lakers matchup on either of these two anticipated dates. Instead, Stein reports (via Twitter), the battle of Doncic’s current and former teams will likely occur at the end of November during the NBA Cup.
As Law Murray of the Athletic notes (via Twitter), only three teams that won at least 49 games last season aren’t featured on the Christmas Day slate. Those teams are the Celtics and Pacers, who are expected to take a step back as their stars (Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton) recover from Achilles tears, and the Clippers, who will not play on Christmas for the fifth year in a row.
Rockets/Thunder, Warriors/Lakers To Play On Opening Night
The 2025/26 NBA season will tip off on October 21 with a pair of Western Conference matchups, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter).
The Rockets will go up against the 2024 title-winning Thunder to open the evening, followed by the Warriors at the Lakers.
This means Kevin Durant, on the new-look Rockets, will be heading to Oklahoma City on the night the Thunder receive their championship rings. Meanwhile, Stephen Curry will go up against LeBron James for the 57th time in their careers.
While the Mavericks were not tapped with an opening night game, Marc Stein of the Stein Line reports (via Twitter) that their season will start on October 22 against the Spurs in what is sure to be a much-anticipated showdown between this year’s No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg and 2023’s top pick Victor Wembanyama, as well as this year’s No. 2 selection Dylan Harper.
Stein also notes (via Twitter) that the league has announced that group play for the NBA Cup will take place between October 31 and November 28 this season.
Las Vegas Summer League Schedule Set
The NBA has announced the schedule for the annual Las Vegas Summer League, which will run from July 10-20. All 76 games will be televised either on one of ESPN’s platforms or on NBA TV, the league stated in a press release.
New Orleans and Minnesota will tip things off with a game starting at 2:30 p.m. CT July 10. The Pelicans have a pair of lottery picks in point guard Jeremiah Fears and big man Derik Queen, while the Timberwolves will feature French center Joan Beringer.
The main attraction in Las Vegas will be No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, who will make his debut when the Mavericks face the Lakers at 7 p.m. CT July 10. According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), Flagg is expected to play in Dallas’ first two games, which will include a matchup with No. 2 selection Dylan Harper and the Spurs at 3 p.m. CT July 12.
“I want to put him at point guard,” coach Jason Kidd said. “… I’m excited to give him the ball against the Lakers and see what happens.”
All 30 teams will participate in the Las Vegas tournament, which has become the NBA’s premier summer showcase, both for on-court action and off-court meetings. Established players, agents and team executives gather in the city, and deals often get done during the event.
After each team plays four times, the top four will advance to the playoffs, while the others will be given one more game. ESPN will televise the semifinal doubleheader at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. CT July 19, along with the championship game at 9 p.m. CT July 20.
Lakers, Heat Announce Home Portions Of Preseason Schedules
The Lakers put out a press release on Monday announcing the home portion of their 2025/26 preseason schedule, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
The Lakers’ preseason slate will begin on October 3 vs. Phoenix at Acrisure Arena in the Greater Palm Springs area. On Oct. 12, the Lakers will be on their typical home floor — Crypto.com Arena — against Golden State, followed by a home contest in Las Vegas vs. Dallas on Oct. 15. Marc Stein previously reported (via Twitter) that the Lakers were expected to host the Mavs in Las Vegas.
The home portion of Los Angeles’ preseason schedule will conclude on Oct. 17 in L.A., when the team hosts Sacramento.
The Heat also announced (via Twitter) the dates of their three home preseason games in ’25/26. Miami will host Milwaukee on Oct. 6, San Antonio on Oct. 8, and Memphis on Oct. 17.
And-Ones: Expansion, Playoff Schedule, Awards, Betting Scandal
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday (Twitter video link), commissioner Adam Silver once again addressed the topic of possible NBA expansion.
Silver has said in the past that he wanted to finalize the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement and TV/media deals before looking seriously at bringing new teams into the NBA. That new CBA was implemented in 2023 and the new media deals will take effect later this year, clearing a path for expansion discussions to finally begin in earnest.
“Now that those things are done, we’re just beginning a process, internally at the league, of exploring the opportunity to expand,” Silver said (hat tip to RealGM). “I will say sometimes on the outside (expansion) looks like a no-brainer because it seems like you’re printing money to expand. But you’re really selling equity in the league. You have 30 teams that own the league, and now you’re saying, ‘We’re gonna have 32 teams that own the league,’ so you’re diluting the economic interest of all the 30 teams.
“You’re also potentially diluting the talent, because with roughly 450 players in the NBA, even among those – the greatest in the world – there’s only so many difference-makers. And then how are those players going to be distributed around the league? That’s a lot of what we spend time on in Collective Bargaining Agreements, the right distribution of players. And so we’re looking hard at it, we’re sort of modeling it, for lack of better term, in the league office.”
Silver went on to specifically name Las Vegas and Seattle as cities that will be involved in expansion discussions, but made it clear that the NBA will also be looking at other markets as well. The commissioner added that progress could be made this summer, though he doesn’t view it as a “foregone conclusion” that the league will expand.
“I don’t want to jump the gun here,” he said. “We have the 30 existing teams who all need to weigh in on this process, and also at some point need to have direct conversations with the people who are interested in those teams. It’s premature to do that right now. We’ve been contacted by groups who are saying, ‘We have interest in potentially being part of expansion,’ not just in (Las Vegas and Seattle) but others, and we’ve sort of said, ‘We’re not quite ready yet.’ But again, we will go through a very methodical approach to it and do it very cautiously, but we’ll continue to look at it.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- The NBA has unveiled the schedules for the first round of the playoffs for both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference series (Twitter links). The latest possible Game 7 for a first-round series would take place on May 4, while the playoffs will get underway on Saturday at 1:00 pm Eastern time with Game 1 of the Bucks/Pacers series.
- Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) takes a look back at the recent history of Executive of the Year voting and explains why he’s predicting that Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka will win the award this year, with Koby Altman of the Cavaliers and Sam Presti of the Thunder right behind him. Unlike most of the other major end-of-season awards, Executive of the Year is voted on by NBA general manager, not media members.
- According to the NBA (Twitter link), the finalists for seven of the league’s major awards, including MVP, will be announced on Sunday at 6:30 pm Eastern time on TNT. The finalists are made up of the top three vote-getters for each award.
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic checks in on where things stand with the betting scandal that resulted in Jontay Porter being permanently banned from the NBA. As Vorkunov details, the Porter case is linked to investigations into match-fixing across college sports, with five schools being looked at by the federal government for possible ties.
NBA Reschedules Two Postponed Games, Moves Seven Others
The NBA has announced a series of changes to its game schedule, issuing a press release on Tuesday (via Twitter) stating that two postponed games have been rescheduled and seven others have been moved around as a result of the changes.
The two postponed games are the Spurs/Lakers contest from Saturday, January 11 that wasn’t played due to the Los Angeles wildfires and a Jan. 22 matchup between the Bucks and Pelicans that was postponed due to severe winter weather in New Orleans. According to the league, the new dates for those games are as follows:
- San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers: Monday, March 17.
- Milwaukee Bucks at New Orleans Pelicans: Sunday, April 6.
The NBA also announced the following seven schedule changes to accommodate the rescheduled games:
- Chicago Bulls at Orlando Magic: Moved from March 12 to March 6.
- Orlando Magic at San Antonio Spurs: Moved from March 17 to April 1.
- Milwaukee Bucks at Los Angeles Lakers; Moved from March 18 to March 20.
- Toronto Raptors at Golden State Warriors: Moved from March 19 to March 20.
- Milwaukee Bucks at Golden State Warriors: Moved from March 20 to March 18.
- Orlando Magic at New Orleans Pelicans: Moved from April 6 to March 13.
- New Orleans Pelicans at Milwaukee Bucks: Moved from April 9 to April 10.
In addition to the four teams affected by the original postponements, the Bulls, Magic, Raptors, and Warriors also had games affected as a result of today’s announcement.
It’s the second time this month that the league has made a series of changes to its schedule to accommodate postponed games — the NBA announced on January 15 that nine games had been rescheduled.
There are no more postponed games still requiring new dates, so if no additional postponements take place for the rest of this season, this should be the last schedule adjustment the league needs to make.