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
Michael Porter Jr. Warns Of Risks Associated With Increased Gambling
Appearing this week on the “One Night With Steiny” podcast (YouTube link), Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. warned that the growth of sports gambling is changing the experience of watching games for NBA fans, relays David Purdum of ESPN.
“The enjoyment of the game isn’t for the game anymore,” Porter told the hosts. “It’s so that people can make money. In reality, way more people are losing money than making money.”
Porter’s younger brother, Jontay Porter, made headlines last year for his participation in a gambling scheme. He was banned from the NBA in April 2024 after admitting in court testimony that he took himself out of two games during the 2023/24 season so associates who took the under on prop bets could cash in. He added that the arrangement was his way of paying off gambling debts.
Michael Porter Jr. alluded to his brother’s case on the podcast, saying he understands how players who “come from nothing” could be tempted by the opportunity to make big money for themselves and their friends by manipulating the gambling process.
“Think about it, if you could get all your homies rich by telling them, ‘Yo, bet $10,000 on my under this one game. I’m going to act like I’ve got an injury, and I’m going sit out. I’m going to come out after three minutes,'” Porter said. “And they all get a little bag because you did it one game. That is so not OK, but some people probably think like that. They come from nothing, and all their homies have nothing.”
Porter also stated that players are constantly the target of anger from bettors because they’re always “messing up” either the over or under on prop bets, which allow gamblers to predict whether they’ll have more or less than a certain number of points, rebounds, assists and other statistics.
“We really do get death threats,” Porter said, bringing up the topic of how the league would react if an irate bettor ever decided to physically attack a player.
Porter also decried the growth of online gambling, saying sports in general would be better off if bets could only be placed in person at Las Vegas casinos.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Still Awaiting Bucks’ Approval For EuroBasket
Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn’t taken part in any team activities as Greece prepares for EuroBasket because he’s still waiting for the Bucks to provide written permission for him to participate, according to Aris Barkas and Stavros Barbarousis of Eurohoops.
While most players don’t need permission from their NBA clubs to play in international tournaments, Antetokounmpo is an exception due to the size of his contract, sources tell the authors. They explain that the FIBA insurance policy, which is covered by the Greek federation, doesn’t pay enough to cover Antetokounmpo’s NBA contract in case he suffers a serious injury. Because there’s a cap on the insurance payout, he can’t proceed without authorization from the Bucks.
Barkas and Barbarousis note that Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Lakers guard Luka Doncic are also affected by that stipulation, but they are both practicing and participating in exhibition games with their EuroBasket teams.
The FIBA-NBA agreement permits NBA players to join their national team’s training camp 28 days before the start of a major FIBA competition. Greece’s first EuroBasket game will take place on August 28, so Antetokounmpo would have been permitted to start training at the beginning of the month if not for the insurance snag.
Antetokounmpo has already missed three Greek exhibition contests, and he isn’t expected to play against Montenegro on Thursday. The authors state that Greece will participate in the Acropolis tournament before wrapping up exhibition play August 24 against France, but it’s still uncertain whether Antetokounmpo will be cleared to suit up for any of those contests.
The issue comes amid continuing uncertainty over Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee. Trade speculation was rekindled earlier this month when Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the two-time MVP remains uncertain that he can achieve his goal of winning at least one more NBA title while playing for the Bucks.
Board Of Governors Unanimously Approves Sale Of Celtics
The sale of the Celtics to an investor group led by William Chisholm has received unanimous approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors, the league announced (via Twitter).
The results of the vote were never really in doubt, but it’s significant that there was no opposition to Chisholm’s purchase. The league states that the deal is expected to be finalized soon.
Chisholm, a Massachusetts native and lifelong Celtics fan, reached a tentative agreement in March to purchase the franchise for a $6.1 billion valuation, which set a record at the time as the largest amount ever paid for a North American sports team. That number has since been exceeded by the sale of the Lakers for a $10 billion valuation.
Chisholm submitted the highest offer among four groups that were bidding for the team. According to Brian Robb of MassLive, his other stakeholders include Aditya Mittal, Robert Hale and Bruce A. Beal Jr., along with Sixth Street, a private investment firm.
When the sale was first announced, Wyc Grousbeck intended to remain in his role as the team’s governor through the 2027/28 season. However, a report on Tuesday indicates that’s no longer possible because Grousbeck will control less than the 15% minimum stake that the NBA requires for the person who holds that position.
Instead, Chisholm will become lead governor as soon as the sale is official with Grousbeck serving as alternate governor and CEO through the 2027/28 season. Chisholm is buying majority control of the franchise now and will purchase control of the rest of the team in 2028 at a reported valuation of $7.3 billion.
Chisholm will take over the Celtics during a time of transition after years of being one of the NBA’s elite teams. Jayson Tatum‘s Achilles injury coupled with a second-round playoff exit have placed an emphasis on cost-cutting measures to lower the team’s tax bill and escape second apron restrictions. Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet are already gone from last year’s roster, and more money-saving moves may take place before the new season begins.
Tom Dundon Reaches Tentative Deal To Buy Trail Blazers
2:15 pm: In an updated version of their Sportico report, Soshnick and Novy-Williams says the Blazers’ sale will include two separate payments — one at the closing of the sale and one at a later date. The “blended” valuation of the two payments will be roughly $4.25 billion, sources tell Sportico.
11:18 am: The Blazers will be valued at more than $4 billion in the sale, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
11:01 am: A group led by billionaire Tom Dundon, the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, has reached a tentative agreement to buy the Trail Blazers from Paul Allen‘s estate, sources tell Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico.
Blue Owl Capital co-president Marc Zahr and co-CEO of Collective Global Sheel Tyle are among the other investors who are part of Dundon’s group, according to Soshnick and Novy-Williams, who say the buyers intend to keep the team in Portland.
The Trail Blazers announced their plans to sell the franchise back in May. Allen, the longtime Blazers owner who purchased the franchise for $70MM in 1988, passed away on October 15, 2018, resulting in control of the team being transferred to his sister Jody Allen, the trustee and executor of his estate.
The plan following Paul Allen’s death was for ownership of the Blazers to eventually change hands as part of an estate sale, which is the process that’s playing out now. The investment bank Allen & Co. (no relation) and the law firm Hogan Lovells were selected to lead the sale of the team.
As Soshnick and Novy-Williams note, while the valuation of the Blazers in this tentative deal isn’t yet known, a trust generally has a fiduciary duty in an estate sale to maximize the value of its assets and to sell to the highest qualified bidder.
When Sportico last updated its NBA franchise valuations in December 2024, the site estimated the Blazers’ worth to be $3.6 billion. New owners have agreed to buy the Celtics ($6.1 billion valuation) and Lakers ($10 billion valuation) since then.
All estate proceeds as a result of the Blazers sale will be directed toward philanthropy, per the late Allen’s wishes.
In addition to owning the NHL’s Hurricanes, Dundon has invested heavily in pickleball — he’s the majority owner of the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball. Dundon, who is also the chairman and managing partner of the Dallas-based investment firm Dundon Capital Partners, will serve as the Blazers’ new governor if and when the sale is officially approved by the NBA, per Sportico’s report.
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.
Suns Hiring Steve Clifford As Coaching Advisor
The Suns put out a press release on Tuesday formally announcing their team of assistants under first-year head coach Jordan Ott, but the club is making one more notable addition to its staff that wasn’t included in that announcement, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Phoenix is hiring former NBA head coach Steve Clifford as a coaching advisor, sources tell Scotto.
Clifford, who will turn 64 next month, had multiple stints as the Hornets’ head coach from 2013-18 and 2022-24. He also coached the Magic from 2018-21. Overall, he compiled a regular season record of 340-461 (.424) in Charlotte and Orlando, earning four playoff appearances across 10 seasons.
Clifford also has no shortage of experience as an NBA assistant, including stints with the Knicks, Rockets, Magic, and Lakers from 2001-13. Prior to his first NBA job, he worked as a college assistant and head coach for about a decade-and-a-half.
When the Suns were in the process of filling out Ott’s staff, reporting indicated that the team was seeking a lead assistant with previous head coaching experience. Phoenix didn’t end up finding anyone who fit that bill, with Jesse Mermuys, DeMarre Carroll, and Brian Randle expected to occupy the top three front-of-bench spots under Ott.
By bringing aboard Clifford in an advisory role, the Suns are providing Ott with a more experienced confidant who can help him navigate his first year as a head coach.
Wyc Grousbeck Won’t Continue To Be Celtics’ Governor
3:08 pm: Chisholm and Grousbeck still intend to run the Celtics together for the next few years, according to Shelburne, who reports (via Twitter) that Grousbeck is giving up his governor title because he’ll control less than the 15% minimum stake required for the person who holds that position.
10:50 am: When the Grousbeck family agreed to sell the Celtics to William Chisholm, the stated plan was for Wyc Grousbeck to remain in his role as the team’s governor through the 2027/28 season. The expectation was that Grousbeck would give up his position when Chisholm’s group – which is initially buying a 51% stake – purchased the rest of the shares in the franchise in 2028.
However, Grousbeck will no longer retain the governor title following the first stage of the ownership transfer, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ramona Shelburne. According to Charania and Shelburne, Chisholm will immediately become the Celtics’ new governor once his purchase of the team is approved, which is expected to happen very soon.
ESPN’s report doesn’t specify the reason for the change of plans, but it was an unorthodox approach to have Chisholm acquiring majority control of the team while keeping the team’s former majority owner in the top organizational role.
Grousbeck will continue to operate as the Celtics’ CEO and will also serve as an alternate governor once the sale is complete, per Charania and Shelburne.
This isn’t the first time in recent years that a plan to have an NBA owner remain in a prominent position in the organization after he sells the team has fallen through — Mark Cuban was reportedly expected to remain the Mavericks’ top basketball decision-maker after he sold controlling interest in his franchise to the Aldersons and Patrick Dumont, but that didn’t end up happening.
The Lakers announced a similar arrangement when Mark Walter reached an agreement to buy control of the team from the Buss family. The expectation is that Jeanie Buss will stay in her role as governor in Los Angeles for several seasons after Walter assumes control of the franchise.
Given what happened with Cuban and now Grousbeck, we’ll see if that comes to fruition, but it’s worth noting that Walter has been a minority owner in the Lakers for several years and had a preexisting relationship with the Buss family when he agreed to purchase the club, whereas the buyers and sellers in Dallas and Boston hadn’t previously worked together.
Grousbeck will step down as Boston’s governor after holding the position for over two decades. The Grousbeck family bought the Celtics in 2002 and has since helped guide the organization to a pair of championships (in 2008 and 2024). They bought the team for $360MM and sold it at a valuation of $6.1 billion.
Nuggets Sign Kessler Edwards
10:00 pm: The deal is official, per RealGM’s transaction log.
1:32 pm: The Nuggets and free agent forward Kessler Edwards have reached an agreement on a deal, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Edwards, who turned 25 on Saturday, has appeared in at least 36 games in each of the past four seasons after being drafted 44th overall out of Pepperdine in 2021. He played some of his best basketball in the second half of 2024/25 for a Mavericks team beset by injuries.
With several key frontcourt players sidelined for Dallas, Edwards averaged 8.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 24.8 minutes per night with a .538/.486/.900 shooting line from February 10 to March 19. He started in 14 of 16 games during that stretch before reaching his two-way games played limit.
In total, Edwards made 40 appearances (18 starts) for the Mavs, averaging 4.2 PPG and 2.9 RPG on .496/.407/.923 shooting in 15.2 MPG. He holds career averages of 3.6 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 12.7 MPG across 178 outings for Brooklyn, Sacramento, and Dallas.
Scotto doesn’t provide any details on what sort of contract Edwards and the Nuggets have agreed to, but Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette reports (via Twitter) it’s a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal.
The Nuggets are carrying 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts, so there could be a path for Edwards to make the team as a 15th man, but Denver is already operating slightly over the tax line and may want to keep that spot open to start the season. Edwards is no longer eligible for a two-way contract.
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.