NBA 2025-26 schedule release: 40 games I’m looking forward to next season
If you count the seasons from 1946 to 1949 when it was called the Basketball Association of America, the NBA will enter its 80th season when the 2025-26 campaign tips off. And for the fifth straight year, the NBA has managed to do the unthinkable.
Maybe you doubted it. Maybe I doubted it. But the NBA has managed to release another full regular-season schedule for all 30 participating teams. Scheduling is done. Flight and hotels are being coordinated. And we’ve all been scribbling away at physical paper calendars to write down the big games we want to see
The NBA Cup group play will begin on Halloween night. Are you excited to see how your rods and cones will be assaulted by new courts? I know I am! As for now, there are 40 games on the schedule I’m looking forward to the most, so I ask that you take note of these games! (Inevitably, I probably left a good matchup or two off this list. I promise I left it out because I hate your favorite team. Still, toss the games you’re most looking forward to watching in the comments.)
Matchup (M) StubHub
Tickets Time
Denver Nuggets Nuggets @
Oklahoma City Thunder Thunder Feb 27
Tickets TicketArrow 9:30 PM
Minnesota Timberwolves Timberwolves @
Oklahoma City Thunder Thunder Nov 26
Tickets TicketArrow 7:30 PM
Cleveland Cavaliers Cavaliers @
New York Knicks Knicks Oct 22
Tickets TicketArrow 7:00 PM
Los Angeles Lakers Lakers @
Dallas Mavericks Mavericks Jan 24
Tickets TicketArrow 8:30 PM
Los Angeles Clippers Clippers @
Denver Nuggets Nuggets Jan 30
Tickets TicketArrow 10:00 PM
New York Knicks Knicks @
Detroit Pistons Pistons Jan 5
Tickets TicketArrow 7:00 PM
Milwaukee Bucks Bucks @
Indiana Pacers Pacers Nov 3
Tickets TicketArrow 7:00 PM
Houston Rockets Rockets @
Golden State Warriors Warriors Nov 26
Tickets TicketArrow 10:00 PM
Houston Rockets Rockets @
Oklahoma City Thunder Thunder Oct 21
Tickets TicketArrow 7:30 PM
Los Angeles Lakers Lakers @
Minnesota Timberwolves Timberwolves Oct 29
Tickets TicketArrow 9:30 PM
Western Conference finals preview? Denver Nuggets at Oklahoma City Thunder, 9:30 p.m. Feb. 27, ESPN
This is the matchup I’m looking forward to the most, and we get it at least four times this season. Denver and OKC have each won a championship in the last three seasons, and we assumed both would be running the league for the foreseeable future when they were crowned champs.
The Nuggets got cheap and let their depth go, then they finally loaded back up with their bench and positions of concern after trading away Michael Porter Jr. this summer. The Thunder had one of the most dominant seasons we’ll ever see, have their entire roster intact and look even scarier. But it took them seven games to take out Nikola Jokić and a weak supporting cast. With Denver reloaded, can the champs keep beating them?
Western Conference finals rematch: Minnesota Timberwolves at OKC Thunder, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26, ESPN
I contend this series was closer than people assume, even though it ended in five games. The Wolves lost Nickeil Alexander-Walker this offseason but retained Julius Randle and Naz Reid. They have some young guys they hope can fill the void left by NAW. Is any of it enough to overpower the Thunder?
Minnesota played really well against them in the regular season, before the WCF. Anthony Edwards just turned 24 and is still getting better. Can he catch up to the MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? Not to mention, these teams do not like each other. Minnesota really had an issue with foul-drawing in their series, and it caused plenty of animosity.
Eastern Conference finals preview? Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks, 7 p.m. Oct. 22, ESPN
The injuries to Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, and Damian Lillard have changed the landscape in the East considerably. So is a Cavs-Knicks showdown this season a preview of conference finals to come? Or will other teams make sure that doesn’t happen? The Knicks bullied the Cavs in a playoff series back in 2023, but things have changed dramatically for both teams since then. This could end up being the best matchup we have in the East if everybody stays healthy.
..
Now we have KD: Houston Rockets at Golden State Warriors, 10 p.m. Nov. 26, ESPN
The Rockets have not figured out how to dispatch Steph Curry from the playoffs. Once again, he and the Warriors sent Houston home last season in the postseason in a seven-game, first-round series. Well, the Rockets have added Kevin Durant and Dorian Finney-Smith to the mix. Durant participated on the other side of this equation back in a heart-breaking 2017 Western Conference finals disappearing act from the Rockets. Now, Houston gets to bring KD to its side to try to show the Warriors they’re no longer the bullies here.
Top two seeds: Houston Rockets at OKC Thunder, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21, NBC
These were the top two seeds last season in the West, and we’ve seen the Rockets load up in a move toward being true contenders. They have a lot of defenders to throw at SGA, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. They also have a lot more offense to use against OKC’s staunch title-winning defense. This will be a great series to track all season long.
Got bigger: Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers, 10 p.m. Oct. 29, Prime Video
Remember when Rudy Gobert made the Lakers look like a 6-foot-5-and-under league participant? The Wolves embarrassed the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, and Gobert looked like Shaquille O’Neal in the closeout game. The Lakers have Deandre Ayton now as their center, and they’re hoping that’s enough size to remind the Wolves that they should fear a team with Luka and LeBron. We’ll see if that’s enough.
Alperen Şengün and Wembanyama have had some interesting battles in their two years. Wemby shut down Şengün a couple of times early last season, which was probably payback from a Wembanyama rookie year showdown when Şengün had 45 points on the Spurs’ franchise guy. Şengün has been trying to go through Wemby’s chest every time they play, and Wemby is having to learn how to battle against that brawn.
I’m always here for Edwards and Durant having a little duel. This goes back to the first-round series sweep from 2024 when the Wolves shocked everybody by making the Suns look feeble. Ant was going right at his idol, KD. There has been a great mutual respect between the two. The Rockets have a much better team around KD now.
Flagg against Dylan Harper. There wasn’t debate about who should be picked first in the 2025 draft. This wasn’t a Greg Oden-Kevin Durant or Derrick Rose-Michael Beasley situation. But getting the first and second picks together is often noteworthy, and the Mavs and Spurs playing is a fun matchup.
No. 2 versus No. 3: San Antonio Spurs at Philadelphia 76ers, 8 p.m. March 3, Peacock
We also didn’t have a debate between the second and third picks, but Harper and VJ Edgecombe should guard each other quite a bit in this one. Harper is a big physical guard. He has some size on Edgecombe, but the Sixers rookie might be the best athlete in the class.
What could have been, Pt. 1: Utah Jazz at Charlotte Hornets, 6 p.m. Nov. 2, League Pass
The Hornets could have tried to draft Ace Bailey, even though he didn’t want to go there. They tried to trade down in the draft, but they had to worry about the Jazz picking Kon Knueppel with the fifth pick if the Hornets moved down to sixth or lower. So we have a few big games of draft chicken converging in this matchup.
What could have been, Pt. 2: Utah Jazz at Washington Wizards, 7 p.m. March 5, League Pass
Speaking of what could have been, the Wizards wanted to move up to get Bailey in the draft. They were part of the rumored trade possibilities with Charlotte moving down before they blinked at Utah grabbing their guy. The Wizards ended up with a good one in Tre Johnson, and a battle between Johnson and Bailey should be really fun.
What could have been, Pt. 3: Utah Jazz at Brooklyn Nets, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4, League Pass
One more time! Bailey was the topic of the draft for a lot of reason. The Rutgers product was also interested in playing in Brooklyn, but the Nets never moved up to get him. Instead, they ended up with Egor Demin at No. 8.
Present versus future? Denver Nuggets at Portland Trail Blazers, 10 p.m. Oct. 31, League Pass
They’re calling Yang Hansen the “Chinese Jokić.” I’m excited to see what the Blazers rookie big man looks like against the real Jokić.
