The NBA announced its full 2025-26 regular season schedule on Thursday, including opening night, Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day matchups.
The season will tip off with the defending NBA champion Oklahoma CIty Thunder playing the new-look Houston Rockets on Oct. 21. What should be a full season of LeBron James and Luka Doncic playing together with the Los Angeles Lakers will also begin against the Golden State Warriors later that night.
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However, with the new season also comes an eagerly anticipated new media rights package in which the NBA has moved on to new TV partners, returning to NBC after a 22-year absence while also adding Prime Video as a streaming outlet.
With two new streaming platforms in NBC’s Peacock and Prime Video joining the broadcast schedule, the NBA will eventually have national telecasts on every day of the week beginning in January.
Here is how each TV partner’s NBA schedule will break down during the week:
NBC and Peacock: Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays
NBC’s coverage will begin with the aforementioned Oct. 21 regular-season opener with Thunder-Rockets, followed by Warriors-Lakers. From there on, NBC and Peacock will have broadcasts every subsequent Tuesday with “Coast 2 Coast Tuesday” through April 7.
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NBC will also broadcast an NBA Cup group play doubleheader on Nov. 25 with the 76ers hosting the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Clippers visiting the Lakers.
Peacock will have its own telecast on Monday nights in “Peacock NBA Monday” beginning on Oct. 27 with the Detroit Pistons hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7 p.m. ET. That schedule will continue each Monday through April 6.
And on Sunday nights after the NFL season, NBC and Peacock will broadcast “Sunday Night Basketball.” The first Sunday telecast will be on Feb. 1 before taking a two-week break for Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, with the NBA All-Star Game and the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics on Feb. 15. NBC’s Sunday night NBA coverage will resume on Feb. 22.
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ESPN: Wednesdays and Fridays, ABC: Saturdays and Sundays
ESPN and ABC’s NBA schedule will remain as it was during the previous TV rights package. ESPN will televise games on Wednesday and Friday nights, while ABC will broadcast the NBA on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.
ESPN’s coverage begins on Oct. 22 with the Cavaliers visiting the New York Knicks at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the Dallas Mavericks and No. 1 Cooper Flagg hosting the San Antonio Spurs with this year’s No. 2 selection, Dylan Harper and the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year, Victor Wembanyama, at 9:30 p.m. ET.
That week, the network will also broadcast a doubleheader on Thursday with a Thunder-Indiana Pacers matchup at 7:30 p.m. ET followed by the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokić visiting the Warriors at 10 p.m. ET.
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Additionally. ESPN will televise a Thanksgiving Eve tripleheader on Nov. 26. Coverage begins with the Boston Celtics hosting the Pistons at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves visiting the Thunder at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Warriors hosting the Rockets at 10 p.m. ET.
ABC’s Saturday NBA broadcasts (“NBA Primetime Saturday on ABC”) will begin with a Jan. 24 tripleheader featuring the Knicks at the Philadelphia 76ers at 3 p.m. ET, Warriors-Timberwolves at 5:30 p.m. ET and Lakers-Mavericks at 8:30 p.m. ET. Broadcasts will air each subsequent Saturday through March 14.
ABC’s Sunday NBA telecasts (“NBA Sunday Showcase on ABC”) tip off on Feb. 8 with Knicks-Celtics at 12:30 p.m. ET. Those will continue each Sunday afternoon with doubleheaders for three consecutive weeks until a single broadcast on March 15.
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Prime Video NBA coverage takes the court on Fridays
Prime Video begins its NBA coverage with an Oct. 24 doubleheader featuring Knicks-Celtics at 7:30 p.m. ET and Timberwolves-Lakers at 10 p.m. ET.
The streaming channel then begins its NBA Cup tournament coverage with doubleheaders for the group play and knockout rounds beginning on Oct. 31 with Celtics-76ers at 7 p.m. ET and Lakers-Grizzlies at 10 p.m. ET. Prime Video will stream NBA Cup doubleheaders each following Friday through Nov. 28 before breaking out of its Friday schedule to other days of the week.
NBA Cup quarterfinal matchups will stream on Dec. 9 and 10, followed by semifinals on Dec. 13 and the 2025 championship on Dec. 16.
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The tournament’s other group play games will be divided among ESPN, NBC and NBA League Pass,
