Court Order: NBA Full Sked ESPN, NBC, Prime Video Opening Day, Xmas, Cup
Thursday, August 14, 2025 at 01:56PM By Barry Janoff
UPDATED August 14, 2025: The full 2025-26 NBA Schedule Release presented by Ticketmaster has been released, highlighted by NBA Rivals Week — with 11 national games with doubleheaders on NBC, ESPN, Prime (two) and a tripleheader on ABC — as well as Global Games in Mexico City (on Peacock), Berlin and London (both on Prime).
UPDATED August 13, 2025: Amazon unveiled its NBA Emirates Cup broadcast schedule for the inaugural season of the NBA on Prime Video, with Amazon’s Prime Video scheduled to show 17 of the games, including the championship. Prime Video will air ten NBA Cup group games and the knockout rounds. The other 50 group games will be split among ESPN, NBC and NBA League Pass.
The broadcast team includes Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Michael Grady, Eric Collins, Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker and Stan Van Gundy.
August 12, 2025: The calendar may read Aug. 12, but the NBA and media partners ESPN and NBC have turned the pages to October, December and January, unveiling the Opening Week, Xmas and Martin Luther King Jr. Day schedules for the 2025-26 NBA regular season.
Via its new deal, NBC, which aired NBA games from 1990-2002, will pay $2.5 billion per year for the next 11 years, according to industry analysis, with games also streaming on Peacock.
In the first game of the NBA’s opening-night doubleheader Oct. 21 on NBC/Peacock, the Oklahoma City Thunder will receive their championship rings and raise the first championship banner in Oklahoma City before hosting the Houston Rockets in 15-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant’s debut with the team.
The Golden State Warriors then visit the Los Angeles Lakers and 21-time NBA All-Star LeBron James in his record-setting 23rd season. The opening-night doubleheader and all other games presented by NBC during the season will stream nationwide on Peacock.
ESPN, with a new deal valued at $2.6 billion per year, begins its 2025-26 NBA regular-season coverage with four marquee matchups presented by State Farm across back-to-back nights.
On Oct. 22, the Cleveland Cavaliers travel to Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks. Next, the Dallas Mavericks and overall No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg host the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama.
ESPN continues its longstanding tradition of presenting exclusive, wall-to-wall coverage of all five Christmas Day games. This year, all five games presented by State Farm will again air across both ESPN and ABC.
In a NBA first, NBC Sports will present a quadrupleheader on Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Jan. 19, 2026 — featuring stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young, Gilgeous-Alexander, Mitchell, Cooper Flagg, Jalen Brunson and Jaylen Brown.
This season, NBC Sports will present up to 100 regular season NBA games — including five games each week for portions of the season — with consistent coverage on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights, plus All-Star Weekend and the NBA Playoffs.
After Sunday Night Football and NFL playoff coverage concludes in 2026, NBC Sports will launch Sunday Night Basketball across NBC and Peacock on Feb. 1, 2026.
This season, Sunday Night Basketball will pause on Feb. 8 and Feb. 15, 2026, due to NBC Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl LX, the NBA All-Star Game, and the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
It will resume on Feb. 22 and run through April 5. Sunday nights will occasionally feature doubleheaders. A one-hour, on-site studio program will lead into game coverage each week on NBC and Peacock.
The full NBA schedule will be released Aug. 14.
• Opening Week Presented by State Farm Schedule (All games on ESPN)
Oct. 22: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks
San Antonio Spurs vs. Dallas Mavericks
Oct. 23: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers
Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors
• Christmas Day Presented by State Farm Schedule (All games on ESPN and ABC)
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks Noon ET
San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder 2:30 PM ET
Dallas Mavericks vs. Golden State Warriors 5 PM ET
Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers 8 PM ET
Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets 10:30 PM ET
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan. 19, 2026
Milwaukee Bucks at Atlanta Hawks (Peacock exclusive) 1 PM ET
Oklahoma City Thunder at Cleveland Cavaliers (NBC/Peacock) 2:30 PM
Dallas Mavericks at New York Knicks (NBC/Peacock) 5 PM ET
Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons (NBC/Peacock) 8 PM ET
NBA Deals With ESPN, NBC To Top $76B
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