The first fixtures of the 2026-27 NBA season have been revealed, and the league has wasted no time putting its biggest names and storylines on centre stage.
The full regular-season schedule will be released on Thursday, but fans already know what opening night and Christmas Day will look like.
The season tips off on October 20, with the Boston Celtics travelling to face the Detroit Pistons in the first game of the campaign.
That will be followed by one of the most anticipated games of the early season, as defending champions the New York Knicks host the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden.
New York will raise their championship banner before facing a completely reshaped Sixers side featuring LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, alongside Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe.
LeBron’s move to Philadelphia immediately makes the Sixers one of the teams to watch, and his first competitive appearance for his new franchise could hardly come on a bigger stage.
Opening night then heads west, where the San Antonio Spurs host the Oklahoma City Thunder in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals.
Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs reached the NBA Finals last season before losing to the Knicks, while Oklahoma City remain built around their established championship core.
Christmas Day fixtures revealed
The NBA has also confirmed its traditional five-game Christmas Day schedule.
The headline fixture is a rematch of the 2026 NBA Finals, with San Antonio travelling to Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks.
LeBron will also make a rapid return to Los Angeles when the Sixers face the Lakers, adding another obvious storyline to the Christmas slate.
Elsewhere, Miami face Boston, Oklahoma City take on Minnesota and Denver meet Golden State. Last Christmas, the Cleveland Cavaliers vs New York Knicks was given the Disney treatment, with Dunk the Halls recreating the live game in real time as animated players on Main Street, U.S.A. at Magic Kingdom using Sony’s tracking technology.
With the NBA’s Christmas slate now taking shape for 2026, it would be no surprise to see another animated special return, perhaps built around one of the day’s marquee games such as Knicks vs Spurs or Lakers vs 76ers.
The league has already confirmed several other key dates for the season. NBA Cup group play begins on October 30, while the competition's championship game will take place on December 11 in Indianapolis. The Spurs will also face New Orleans in Paris on January 14 before the teams meet again in Manchester three days later.
For now, these headline games give us the first taste of what is coming.
The rest arrives Thursday, when all 30 teams will finally discover their complete path through the 2026-27 regular season.
