The 2025–26 NBA season is the 80th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 21, 2025 and will end on April 12, 2026. The third edition of the in-season NBA Cup tournament is being held from October 31 through December 16, 2025. The 2026 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for February 15, 2026, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.[1] The play-in tournament is scheduled to be played from April 14 to 17, 2026, followed the next day by the opening of the playoffs, which will conclude with the NBA Finals starting June 4, with a possible game 7 scheduled for June 21.
On June 29, 2025, Bojan Bogdanović announced his retirement from professional basketball, citing recurring foot injuries. He played for six teams in his ten-year NBA career.[2]
On August 18, 2025, Marco Belinelli announced his retirement from professional basketball. He spent 13 seasons in the NBA and won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.[3]
On August 19, 2025, John Wall announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played for three teams in his 13-year career.[4]
On August 30, 2025, Jeremy Lin announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played for eight teams in his nine-year NBA career. He is best known for the "Linsanity" phenomenon when he played with the New York Knicks in the 2011–12 season. He later won an NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.[5]
On October 15, 2025, Malcolm Brogdon announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played for five teams in his nine-year career and was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2017.[6]
On November 22, 2025, Chris Paul announced that the 2025–26 season would be his last after playing for seven teams during his 21-year career. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 2006 and is the last remaining active player from the 2005 NBA draft.
On December 2, 2025, Danilo Gallinari announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played for eight teams over a sixteen-year career.
On May 2, 2025, Gregg Popovich stepped down as Spurs head coach after 29 seasons with the team.[11] Assistant coach Mitch Johnson was named the head coach.[12]
In addition to regular preseason games hosted at NBA teams' own arenas, the NBA often hosts neutral site preseason games (either in domestic non-NBA markets or foreign markets) or against non-NBA teams. Listed below are only those neutral site or preseason games.
The NBA Cup returns for the 2025–26 season, with the same basic structure:[39]
All games except the championship final counting towards the regular-season standings.
Six intraconference pools of five (three pools per conference).
This season, the group games against each of the other teams in their pool (two at home and two on the road), will be held primarily on Fridays between October 31 and November 28. Group games will also be played on Tuesday, November 25 and Wednesday, November 26.
The winners of each pool (three teams per conference) and two wild-card teams (one team per conference) advance to a single-elimination tournament held on December 9, 10, 13 and 16.
To compensate, the NBA's regular-season scheduling formula was modified so only 80 games for each team were initially announced during the offseason. The first two rounds of the tournament counted as regular-season games 81 and 82. The championship game was an extra 83rd game that did not count toward the regular season. Teams that did not qualify for the in-season tournament knockout round, or were eliminated in the quarterfinals, were scheduled additional games against other teams that were eliminated in the same conference (if possible) and round to reach 82 games.
The semifinals and championship game will be held at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada for the third consecutive season.
The Wells Fargo Center, the home of the Philadelphia 76ers, was renamed to Xfinity Mobile Arena on August 14, 2025, under a new naming rights deal with Xfinity Mobile, a subsidiary of Comcast (Spectacor, a subsidiary company, owns the arena).[48]
The Orlando Magic unveiled a new logo and uniforms, taking inspiration from the team's original look from 1989 to 2000. The "shooting ball with stars" logo returned with an updated look while the wordmarks were updated with a star replacing the letter "A" in the words "Orlando" and "Magic", which are reflected in their new uniforms. The team's "Icon" uniform was changed to a blue color while the "Statement" uniform was changed to a black and blue pattern inspired by the team's original warmup gear.[50]
The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a new purple Statement Edition uniform. The Lakers’ white wordmark is outlined in gold, and the white jersey numbers have a gold drop shadow. The design removes the previous black side panel, leaving only purple and gold, with "Los Angeles Lakers" along the side trim. The primary logo appears at the center of the shorts, while the "LA" mark is shown on both sides for the first time on a core uniform. "Leave a Legacy" is placed above the jock tag, and "17" at the back of the neck represents the team’s championships.[51]
The Phoenix Suns unveiled a new black Statement Edition uniform. The uniform takes inspiration from Arizona's sunsets with a purple and orangeThe Valley gradient throughout its design. A bold Phoenix wordmark is placed on the chest at an angle where the left side is leaning downwards. The team's sunburst logo was reimagined with the Valley-inspired gradient streaks across the shorts, while the classic sunburst logo is on the center of the beltline. The Suns would wear this uniform for the first time on October 31 against the Utah Jazz in their first 2025 NBA Cup game.[52]
The NBA, in partnership with Topps, announced that players who played their first NBA game would wear an "NBA Debut" patch on their uniforms, which were then removed and authenticated after the game on an autographed, one-on-one numbered rookie card. Additionally, previous season's winners of the Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year would wear a gold NBA logo patch on the back of their uniforms for the entire season.[53] All award winners and members of last season's All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams also wore a special patch on their uniforms (or lapels in the case of Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year winners) during their first game of the season. These patches depicted specific silhouettes tied to each player's award or year-end team selection. After the game, these uniforms are auctioned off by Sotheby's throughout the season.[54]
This is the first season of new 11-year deals with the ESPN family of networks, NBC Sports and Amazon Prime Video. The ESPN networks renewed their contract with a modified schedule. NBC and Prime Video both replace TNT, with NBC returning to televising the NBA for the first time since 2001–02, and Prime Video signing its first U.S. national contract with the league.[55][56]
Linear television
ESPN will continue to air NBA Wednesday games throughout the regular season (including a tripleheader on November 26), but will now have a limited selection of games on Fridays as well as on other days as the schedule allows, including a Thursday doubleheader on the opening week. On the final Sunday of the regular season, April 12, two games with playoff implications will be flexed into an ESPN doubleheader. This doubleheader will air on primetime instead of in the afternoon due to ESPN's opt out of Sunday Night Baseball.[57] All these ESPN games will continue to be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcast.[58] ABC then airs NBA Saturday Primetime games on seven Saturdays between January and March (including a tripleheader on January 24 and a doubleheader on February 7), and NBA Sunday Showcase games on five Sunday afternoons in February and March (including three doubleheaders). Five Christmas Day games will be ABC/ESPN simulcasts. ESPN will also continue to air the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and the 2026 NBA draft.[56][59][60]
NBC's schedule begins with the NBA Tip-Off doubleheader on opening night, Tuesday, October 21. The network will then air Coast 2 Coast Tuesday: on most Tuesdays during the rest of the regular season, NBC will produce a regional doubleheader with games generally scheduled at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT, and NBC affiliates have the option to show one or both games;[61] national doubleheaders will instead air on December 23 and 30.[62] NBC will also air Sunday Night Basketball games on eight Sundays between February and April (including three doubleheaders), carrying on from Sunday Night Football after the NFL season. Additionally, NBC will have a national doubleheader on Monday, December 29, a Martin Luther King Jr. Day tripleheader, and NBA All-Star Weekend (except for the Celebrity game).[61][35][56][63][64][65][62] The Coast 2 Coast Tuesday, December 29, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day games will also be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcasts.[58]Telemundo will also air 10 Sunday Night Basketball games, the Mexico City Global Game, and the All-Star Game in Spanish.[63][66] From November 17 onward, the newly relaunched NBCSN cable channel will also carry Peacock NBA Monday games.[67]
NBA TV will continue to televise games when the other national broadcasters are not airing games, and will again primarily simulcast local coverage. NBA TV's schedule includes tripleheaders on December 20, New Year's Eve, and January 3.[58][68] However, TNT Sports will no longer run NBA TV as part of their loss of their media rights. Instead, NBA TV was taken over by the league, with operations for the network moved from TNT's Atlanta studios to the league's offices in Secaucus, New Jersey.[69]
Streaming
Amazon Prime Video will stream Friday night games during most of the regular season, Thursday night games during most weeks between January and April (carrying on from Thursday Night Football after the NFL season), and Saturday afternoon games on select weekends.[70] The streaming service will also have the Berlin and London Global games, and the entire knockout round of the NBA Cup.[56][70][71] A select number of Prime Video's games will be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcasts.[72]
Peacock will exclusively stream Peacock NBA Monday games, the Mexico City Global Game, and one Martin Luther King Jr. Day game.[56][63][65] A select number of these regular season games will also be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcasts. [72] The service will also simulcast all games airing on NBC.[56][63][65]
The league-owned NBA League Pass will continue to offer out-of-market games, and live access to NBA TV.
Postseason
Beginning this season, all NBA play-in tournament games will stream on Amazon Prime Video.[75]
Except for the Toronto Raptors and their Canadian media rights, all first-round games will now be nationally exclusive and each team's regional broadcaster will no longer be permitted to produce local feeds of these contests.[76][77] The first two rounds will be split between Amazon Prime Video, ESPN/ABC, and NBC/Peacock. Amazon Prime Video will have between nine and 17 first-round playoff games, and between five and nine second-round playoff games. ESPN and ABC will air approximately 18 games in the first two rounds. NBC and/or Peacock will air between 22 and 34 games in the first two rounds, with at least half of them airing on NBC.[75] However, it is currently unknown on what days these networks will air the playoff games.
Per a two-year rotation with Amazon Prime Video, NBC/Peacock will air a conference final this season, while ESPN/ABC will have the other conference final. For this season, ESPN and ABC will air the Eastern Conference Finals, picking up where they left off from their previous rotation with TNT.[78] NBC/Peacock will broadcast the Western Conference Finals, though NBC themselves revealed this later before the start of the regular season.[79] ABC remains as the exclusive broadcaster of the NBA Finals, which it has aired exclusively since 2003.[75]
ESPN also signed a sub-licensing agreement to air TNT Sports' Inside the NBA studio show on 20 selected regular season nights and then throughout the playoffs, with TNT continuing to produce the program.[82] ESPN's existing studio show, NBA Countdown, will then air on the other nights throughout the season.[83]
Prior to the season, the Hawks, Cavaliers, Heat, Timberwolves and Bucks reached an extension with FanDuel Sports Network to keep their local games on the network until at least the 2026–27 season.[106] The Heat later announced an agreement with WPLG, a local over-the-air station in Miami, to simulcast 12 regular season games with FanDuel Sports Network.[107]
In September 2025, the Suns extended its agreement with Arizona's Family Sports through the 2027–28 season.[108]
The Magic announced an agreement with Hearst Television to simulcast 10 games over-the-air in both Orlando and Tampa Bay. Games will air on WESH or WKCF in Orlando, and WMOR-TV in Tampa Bay.[109]
In Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Prime Video will stream 20 additional regular-season games, along with the games being already aired in the United States, a conference final and the NBA Finals in 6 of the 11 years of the deal.[70]
ESPN will additionally air its slate of games in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and the Netherlands, and will air games through Disney+ in select markets in Asia and Europe. More notably, Disney+ will also stream selected games the Philippines, and will also stream selected marquee games exclusively, and one of its conference Finals and the NBA Finals will be available to stream on delay.[110]
NBC will additionally air its slate of games on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Italy, and will distribute games in the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.
TNT Sports will air games internationally in Poland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Latin America (excluding Brazil and Mexico).[111]
NBA TV international will also air games in select countries worldwide.
ESPN Radio has rights to select regular-season games, all playoff games and rights to the NBA Finals.[112]
This is the sixth season of the league's muti-year deal with SiriusXM and SiriusXM Canada to simulcast all 30 teams' local regular-season and postseason broadcasts.[113]
On September 10, 2025, the NBA approved a rule change that will consider any shot taken within the final three seconds of the first three quarters that is taken from at least 36 feet away on any play that starts in the backcourt as a team shot attempt and not an individual one.[114]
On October 13, 2025, the Milwaukee Bucks signed Alex Antetokounmpo to a two-way deal. With his brothers Giannis and Thanasis, this marks the first time in NBA history that three brothers have been on the same team's roster at the same time.[115]
On October 23, 2025, the Oklahoma City Thunder became the first team in NBA history to head to double overtime in both of their first two games of the season.[117]
On October 24, 2025, Luka Dončić became the fourth player in NBA history to open a season with back-to-back 40+ point games. He also became the first player in NBA history that opened a season with back-to-back games of 40+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 5+ assists.[118]
On October 24, 2025, Giannis Antetokounmpo became the first player in NBA history to have 60+ points, 30+ rebounds, and 10+ assists in the first two games of a season.[118]
On October 29, 2025, Nikola Jokić set the record for most triple-doubles in under 30 minutes, with 17. The previous record was held by Russell Westbrook.[119] He also tied the record for most consecutive triple-doubles to start the season, with 4; the record is also held by Westbrook and Oscar Robertson.[120]
On November 10, 2025, the Cleveland Cavaliers set the record for most consecutive regular-season games with at least 10 three-pointers, with 98. The previous record was held by the Houston Rockets with a streak from 2018 to 2020.[121]
On November 14, 2025, Russell Westbrook became the second player after LeBron James to record 25,000 career points and 10,000 career assists.[123]
On November 18, 2025, LeBron James set the record for most seasons played, with 23, breaking the record he held with Vince Carter.[124]
On December 4, 2025, LeBron James's streak of 1,297 games of scoring 10 or more points came to an end after he scored 8 points in a victory over the Toronto Raptors.[125]
On December 6, 2025, the New York Knicks opened the game with a 23–0 scoring run, the largest game-opening run without an opponent scoring since the league began keeping detailed play-by-play records in the 1997–98 season.[126]
On December 10, 2025, the Oklahoma City Thunder tied the record for the best 25-game start, going 24–1 with a victory over the Phoenix Suns. This matches the record set by the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors.[127]