Rockets-Thunder, Warriors-Lakers to open NBA season
The opening evening of the 2025-26 NBA season will characteristic the Houston Rockets on the defending champion Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder and the Golden State Warriors on the Los Angeles Lakers.
The video games shall be performed on Oct. 21 and shall be televised on NBC.
ESPN will tip off its protection with two opening week doubleheaders. On Oct. 22, the Cleveland Cavaliers will go to the New York Knicks (7 p.m. ET), and Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks will host the San Antonio Spurs (9:30 p.m. ET). The next evening, Oct. 23, the Thunder will go to the Pacers in an NBA Finals rematch (7:30 p.m. ET), whereas the Denver Nuggets will go to the Warriors (10 p.m. ET).
Moreover, there shall be 5 video games on ABC/ESPN on Christmas. They’re:
• Cavaliers at Knicks (midday ET)
• Spurs at Thunder (2:30 p.m. ET)
• Rockets at Lakers (5 p.m. ET)
• Mavericks at Warriors (8 p.m. ET)
• Minnesota Timberwolves at Nuggets (10:30 p.m. ET)
The Knicks shall be enjoying their 58th Christmas sport, extending their NBA document. The primary Christmas sport in league historical past was at Madison Sq. Backyard in 1947.
The Cavaliers and Thunder are enjoying on Christmas for the primary time since 2018, and the Rockets’ sport on the vacation shall be their first since 2019.
Lakers star LeBron James, if he performs, shall be making his twentieth Christmas look in his document twenty third NBA season. Solely 12 NBA franchises have 20 Christmas video games, and James may quickly have that many as a participant.
And it will be an enormous NBA vacation in Texas: All three of the state’s groups are enjoying on Christmas for the primary time.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Day lineup on Jan. 19 options 4 video games:
• Milwaukee Bucks at Atlanta Hawks
• Thunder at Cavaliers
• Mavericks at Knicks
• Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons
Memphis, which usually performs on the vacation, just isn’t this season. The Grizzlies shall be getting back from Europe, after dealing with Orlando on Jan. 15 in Berlin and Jan. 18 in London.
Some NBA Cup video games are scheduled to be launched Wednesday, and the complete schedule — 80 of the 82 video games for all groups — is to be launched Thursday. The remaining two video games for every membership shall be stuffed in December primarily based on how groups fare within the NBA Cup.
The Related Press contributed to this report.