NBA Season Start Date 2026: Opening Night Times and TV

The NBA season start date 2026 is Tuesday, October 20. The league opens the 2026-27 regular season with a tripleheader on NBC and Peacock: Celtics at Pistons at 3 p.m. ET, 76ers at Knicks at 7 p.m. ET, and Thunder at Spurs at 9:30 p.m. ET. The full schedule is out, so these times are official.

Yes, the schedule has actually been released. The league published every team’s 82 game slate in August, and both the NBA.com schedule announcement and ESPN’s full schedule guide list the same opening night. Training camps open today, September 29, so we’re three weeks out from games that count.

NBA opening night 2026: every game and tip time

Opening night is a three game NBC and Peacock show that starts in the afternoon on the East Coast and finishes deep into the night in the UK. American clocks stay on daylight time until November 1 and British clocks don’t change until October 25, so on October 20 the UK sits five hours ahead of ET.

Game	Venue	Tip (ET)	UK time (BST)	TV / stream
Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons	Detroit	3:00 p.m. ET	8:00 p.m. Tue 20 Oct	NBC / Peacock
Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks	Madison Square Garden	7:00 p.m. ET	12:00 a.m. Wed 21 Oct	NBC / Peacock
Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs	Frost Bank Center	9:30 p.m. ET	2:30 a.m. Wed 21 Oct	NBC / Peacock

The Celtics and Pistons game is a rare weekday matinee, which ESPN pointed out when the opening slate was revealed. The Knicks will raise their 2025-26 championship banner before tipping off against Philadelphia, according to the NBA’s official press release. The late game is a Western Conference finals rematch after San Antonio beat Oklahoma City in seven games last spring.

UK fans should note that the NBA’s release lists US broadcasters only. We couldn’t find an official UK channel confirmation for these three games, so check your provider or NBA League Pass closer to the date.

Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks — Photo: Erik Drost / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The rest of opening week

ESPN takes over on nights two and three. The NBA’s opening week release has these doubleheaders on ESPN and the ESPN app:

Wednesday, Oct. 21: Timberwolves at Heat, 7:30 p.m. ET (12:30 a.m. UK), then Warriors at Lakers, 10 p.m. ET (3 a.m. UK)
Thursday, Oct. 22: Cavaliers at 76ers, 7 p.m. ET (12 a.m. UK), then Nuggets at Thunder, 9:30 p.m. ET (2:30 a.m. UK)

That Wednesday opener in Miami is a big one. It’s Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first regular season game for the Heat, and LaMelo Ball is on the other bench for Minnesota.

Key early season dates for 2026-27

Here’s what the NBA’s key dates page and ESPN both have circled for the first half of the season:

September 29: training camps open
October 3: preseason begins, with Heat vs. Raptors in Quebec City, the first NBA game ever played there (Heat release)
October 20: regular season opening night
October 30 to November 27: Emirates NBA Cup group play, mostly on Fridays plus Tuesday Nov. 24 and Wednesday Nov. 25
November 3: no games on Election Day; all 30 teams play on November 2 instead
December 4 to 5: NBA Cup quarterfinals
December 8 to 9: NBA Cup semifinals
December 11: NBA Cup championship at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
December 25: five game Christmas Day slate

Later on, the trade deadline is February 11, All Star weekend runs February 19 to 21 in Phoenix, and the regular season wraps up on Sunday, April 11, 2027.

LeBron James at the 2024 Olympic Games — Photo: Clément Bardot / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Christmas Day 2026 schedule

Christmas falls on a Friday this year, and all five games go out on ABC, ESPN and the ESPN app. By December both countries are back on standard time, so the UK is still five hours ahead.

Game	Tip (ET)	UK time (GMT)
Spurs at Knicks	12:00 p.m. ET	5:00 p.m.
Heat at Celtics	2:30 p.m. ET	7:30 p.m.
76ers at Lakers	5:00 p.m. ET	10:00 p.m.
Thunder at Timberwolves	8:00 p.m. ET	1:00 a.m. Sat 26 Dec
Nuggets at Warriors	10:30 p.m. ET	3:30 a.m. Sat 26 Dec

The noon game is a straight NBA Finals rematch, and the 5 p.m. slot sends LeBron James back to Los Angeles in a Sixers jersey. You couldn’t script that one much better.

5 storylines to watch when the season tips off

1. The Knicks defend a title for the first time in over 50 years

New York beat San Antonio in five games in June to win its first championship since 1973, and Jalen Brunson was named Finals MVP, per the NBA.com Finals recap and Wikipedia’s 2026 playoffs page. The Knicks also won the NBA Cup last season, so they’ve got two trophies to protect. Banner night against a loaded Philly roster isn’t exactly a soft landing.

Jaylen Brown in 2022 — Photo: All-Pro Reels / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

2. LeBron and Jaylen Brown in Philadelphia

This is the move nobody saw coming a year ago. LeBron James, now 41, signed with the 76ers in free agency, and Philadelphia also traded for Jaylen Brown from Boston. They join Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. The kicker? Philadelphia was swept 4-0 by the Knicks in last season’s East semifinals, so opening night at the Garden is personal.

3. Giannis in Miami

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee era is over. The Bucks traded him to the Heat in July, and both ESPN and NBA.com list him among the stars debuting for new teams in opening week. His first preseason game should come in Quebec City on October 3, and the real debut follows at home against Minnesota on October 21.

Giannis Antetokounmpo playing against the Golden State Warriors in 2025 — Photo: Nowoco / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

4. Boston’s reset

With Brown gone, the Celtics look very different. Boston’s afternoon opener in Detroit is our first proper look at how Jayson Tatum’s group fits together. Detroit, remember, came back from 3-1 down in a first round series last spring.

5. Wemby and the Spurs chase the last step

San Antonio got to the Finals and won a game there before New York closed it out. Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs host the Thunder to close opening night, then visit the Knicks on Christmas. Two early rematches against the two teams that shaped last season is a pretty good test of whether they’re ready to go one step further.

FAQ

When does the 2026-27 NBA season start?

The regular season starts on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, with three games on NBC and Peacock. The first tip is Celtics at Pistons at 3 p.m. ET, which is 8 p.m. in the UK.

What time does the Knicks vs. 76ers opener start in the UK?

It tips at 7 p.m. ET on October 20, which is midnight BST going into Wednesday, October 21. The Knicks’ banner ceremony happens right before the game.

When does the 2026 NBA Cup start?

Group play for the Emirates NBA Cup starts on Friday, October 30 and runs through November 27. The knockout rounds follow in early December, and the final is on December 11 in Indianapolis.