NBA season starts October 20 with three games on NBC
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- The 2026-27 NBA season starts Tuesday, October 20. NBC and Peacock show three games that night.
- The Knicks open as defending champions. They raise their banner before facing the 76ers.
- The regular season ends April 11, 2027. Games also air on ESPN, ABC, Prime Video, and League Pass.
The 2026-27 NBA season starts on Tuesday, October 20. NBC and Peacock will show three games that night. The first game starts at 3 PM ET.
ET means Eastern Time. It is the time zone for New York. All times in this article use ET.
The NBA is the top pro basketball league in the United States. It has 30 teams. Each team plays 82 games in the regular season.
The regular season is the long first part. The playoffs come after it. The best teams then fight for the title.
What happened
The league opens with a tripleheader. A tripleheader means three games in one night. NBC calls it the first-ever NBA Tip-Off Tripleheader.
It says no network has shown three Tip-Off games before.
Here is the full opening night plan:
- 3 PM: Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons, on NBC and Peacock.
- 7 PM: Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks, on NBC and Peacock.
- 9:30 PM: Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs, on NBC and Peacock.
The first game pairs two East teams. Jayson Tatum leads Boston. Cade Cunningham leads Detroit.
Boston warmed up with a 114-93 preseason win over Charlotte.
The second game is the big night in New York. The Knicks are the defending champions. They won the title last season.
They will raise their banner at Madison Square Garden. A banner is a flag that honors a title win. Then they face the new-look 76ers.
The 76ers added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown this offseason. The offseason is the break between seasons. Teams use it to sign players.
The third game is a rematch. Last season, the Spurs and Thunder met in the Western Conference Finals. The West is one of two halves of the league.
The Finals pick the best team in each half. Now the two teams meet again on night one. Victor Wembanyama leads San Antonio.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Oklahoma City.
NBC will run studio shows around the games. Its show is called NBA Showtime. Maria Taylor hosts it.
Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady join her as analysts. Analysts explain the game on air. The crew starts at Rockefeller Plaza in New York.
It then moves to Madison Square Garden. It ends the night back in the studio.
Why it matters
Opening night sets the tone for the season. It gives fans a first look at every contender. A contender is a team that can win the title.
It also gives TV networks a big stage.
The Knicks are the story of the night. They open as defending champions. It is their first title defense since the mid-1970s, according to DAZN.
That is a gap of about 50 years. A whole generation of fans never saw this before.
The 76ers are the other story. They rebuilt their roster around James and Brown. A roster is the list of players on a team.
Fans want to see how the new mix works. The Knicks want to spoil the party. They want to win on banner night.
The Spurs-Thunder game matters too. Both teams look strong this season. Our NBA standings preview breaks down where all 30 teams stand.
A strong start can build trust early. A slow start can raise doubts fast.
TV numbers matter as well. The NBA returned to NBC last season. The return drew big crowds.
NBC says opening night averaged 5.6 million viewers. It peaked at 7.1 million viewers. NBC says its NBA ratings averaged 2.8 million viewers last season.
That was up 109 percent from the year before. A 109 percent rise means ratings more than doubled.
NBA teams also played preseason games in London this month. The league keeps growing its global fan base. Opening night is its biggest early showcase.
How to watch all season
Fans have more ways to watch than ever. The games spread across many channels and apps. Here is the simple map.
NBC and Peacock carry a big share. Peacock is NBC's streaming app. Streaming means watching over the internet.
NBC shows games on Monday nights on Peacock. It shows games on Tuesday nights on NBC and Peacock. It also runs Sunday Night Basketball for seven weeks.
That run starts in January.
ESPN and ABC carry games too. ESPN Unlimited streams those games. Most of them air on Wednesdays, Fridays, and some Saturdays.
That is according to Yahoo Sports.
Prime Video carries Friday night games. Prime Video is Amazon's streaming service. Most Fridays bring two games.
Starting in January, Prime Video adds Thursday night games. It also adds select Saturday games. It will show the full SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament.
The Play-In is a mini-tournament. It picks the last playoff teams.
NBA League Pass shows out-of-market games. Out-of-market means games from other cities. It helps fans follow a team far from home.
Local TV still matters. Many games air on local sports channels. These channels are called RSNs.
RSN stands for regional sports network. DAZN is the local home for five teams. Those teams are the Spurs, Pacers, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, and Timberwolves.
DAZN also streams games online for five more teams. Those teams are the Knicks, Nets, Magic, Pistons, and Hornets. DAZN notes that blackout rules apply.
A blackout means some national games are not shown live on DAZN.
Live TV apps can bundle many channels. Yahoo Sports names YouTube TV, DirecTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and Sling. Fans should check which channels each plan has.
Prices and channel lists can change.
What happens next
The season runs from October 20 to April 11, 2027. All 30 teams play on the last day. That is 15 games in one night.
The NBA Cup starts October 30. The NBA Cup is the league's in-season tournament. It runs during the regular season. Group games run for about one month.
Group play ends on November 27. November 27 is Black Friday. It is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States.
The knockout rounds start December 4 and 5. Knockout means lose and you go home. The semifinals are December 8 and 9. The final is December 11. It will be held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It is the first final played outside Las Vegas, according to DAZN.
The NBA also plays games abroad. The first regular-season game outside the United States and Toronto comes November 7. The Denver Nuggets face the Indiana Pacers that day. In January, the league goes to Europe.
The Spurs face the New Orleans Pelicans in Paris on January 14. The two teams meet again in Manchester on January 17.
Christmas Day brings five games. Christmas Day is one of the biggest days on the NBA calendar. The Spurs face the Knicks at noon.
The Miami Heat face the Celtics at 2:30 PM. The 76ers visit the Lakers at 5 PM. It is LeBron James's first game against his old team, according to DAZN.
The Thunder face the Timberwolves in prime time. The Nuggets face the Golden State Warriors in the nightcap.
The nightcap is the last game of the night.
More key dates follow. Martin Luther King Jr. Day brings four games on January 18. The trade deadline is February 11. The trade deadline is the last day teams can swap players.
Presidents Day brings four games on February 15.
The All-Star break runs February 19 to 24. The All-Star events take place in Phoenix. They will be held at Footprint Center. The Rising Stars game is February 19. It features rookies and second-year players.
Rookies are first-year players. All-Star Saturday Night is February 20. It has the slam dunk contest. The All-Star Game is February 21.
After the regular season, the Play-In Tournament runs April 13 to 16. Then the playoffs begin. The Finals should end by mid-June, according to DAZN.
The wait is almost over. The season starts Tuesday. Three games open the show.
The Knicks raise their banner. The 76ers show their new stars. The Spurs and Thunder renew their rivalry.
Fans can watch it all on NBC and Peacock. Then the long road to June begins.
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