2025-26 The biggest return game in the NBA regular season will be held in a week in November, as the vast majority of the schedule for all 30 NBA teams is released on Thursday on ESPN's “NBA Today.”
On November 24, Kevin Durant will return to Phoenix as a member of the Houston Rockets for the first time. Anthony Davis will return to Los Angeles on November 28 as the Dallas Mavericks face the Lakers in the NBA Cup division.
Now, every team knows 80 of the 82 games it will play. Opening week and holiday games and NBA Cup group schedules were announced earlier this week.
Editing selection
2 Related
The schedule also highlights the NBA's new partnership with NBC/Comcast and Amazon, as part of the league's 11-year agreement with these broadcast entities with ESPN/ABC, which will retain the NBA finals.
Durant will return to Phoenix, which will trade it to Houston in June to show on NBC. Meanwhile, Davis switched to Luka Doncic in February to one of the most shocking industries in NBA history, and he will return to Los Angeles with Amazon Prime.
The Lakers and the Mavericks will meet three other times this season: January 24 in Dallas (8:30 PM ET, ABC), February 12 in Los Angeles, April 5 in Dallas.
February 1 – A year after the Lakers’ matchup against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, only Doncic’s trade happened shortly after the game – both teams will once again be paralleled on NBC on MSG.
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder will also play many large games, many of which are the latter half of the game. Durant and the Rockets will visit Oklahoma City on opening night (October 21) for a ring ceremony, Houston will return to Oklahoma City on February 7 (3:30 pm, ABC); the Thunder will go alone to Houston on January 15.
The Thunder will first see them joining the game again on March 15 (ESPN, ESPN) last season on November 26 (7:30 pm, ESPN) at Oklahoma City’s Western Conference Finals rival Minnesota Timberwolves. They will play in Minnesota twice on December 19 and January 29.
All four games between last season's MVP and Denver Nuggets' three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, Thunderstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, will begin in February, giving both players a chance to win late-stage cases of this season's awards. Denver will travel to Oklahoma City on February 27 (9:30 pm, ESPN) and March 9, with the Nuggets hosting Thunder on February 1 and April 10.
This isn't the only potential MVP showdown at the end of the season. The Lakers and the Thunder will face each other twice in just a short period of time – April 2 in Oklahoma City and April 7 in Los Angeles.
The Thunder will hold four season evening meetings against Eastern Conference Favorite Cleveland on January 19 at Oklahoma City (ABC) and New York at Oklahoma Square Garden (ESPN) on February 22 at Oklahoma State Cavaliers on March 29 at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks and the Cavaliers will play in New York during Opening Week (October 22, 7 p.m., ESPN) and Christmas (noon, ABC/ESPN) before a final showdown in Cleveland on February 24.
New York will host the revived Atlanta Hawks and longtime MSG Trae Young for the first time in the Japanese season on January 2. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers will be on their final game in Cleveland on January 28 (ESPN) on January 28 (ESPN).
Other notable rewards for star players are still being planned.
Center Myles Turner, who played for the Pacers only in his first 11 NBA seasons, will return to Indiana on Nov. 3 as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.
New LA Clippers Center Brook Lopez will visit Milwaukee alone on March 29.
Desmond Bane will be traded by the Grizzlies to Orlando Magic in a blockbuster deal in June, and he will visit Memphis on January 18.
In back-to-back games later that month, the Boston Celtics will welcome a pair of key contributors to their 2023-24 championship teams that were traded this summer. Jrue Holiday and Portland Trail Blazers will visit Boston on January 26, and Kristaps Porzingis and Hawks will arrive in town on January 28.