The2025–26 NBA season is the 80th season of theNational Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 21, 2025 and will end on April 12, 2026. The third edition of the in-seasonNBA Cup tournament was held from October 31 through December 16, 2025, with theNew York Knicks winning it against theSan Antonio Spurs. The2026 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for February 15, 2026, at theIntuit Dome inInglewood, California.[2] 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 3, with a possible game 7 scheduled for June 19.[1][3]
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.[4]
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 theSan Antonio Spurs in 2014.[5]
On August 19, 2025,John Wall announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played for three teams in his 13-year career.[6]
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 theNew York Knicks in the2011–12 season. He later won an NBA championship with theToronto Raptors in2019.[7]
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 theNBA Rookie of the Year in2017.[8]
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 in2006 and is the last remaining active player from the2005 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 February 13, 2026,Chris Paul announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played for seven teams over a twenty-one-year career.
On May 2, 2025,Gregg Popovich stepped down as Spurs head coach after 29 seasons with the team.[14] Assistant coachMitch Johnson was named the head coach.[15]
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.
TheNBA Cup returned for the 2025–26 season, with the same basic structure:[45]
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), were held primarily on Fridays between October 31 and November 28. Group games were also 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) advanced 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 Wells Fargo Center, the home of the Philadelphia 76ers, was renamed toXfinity Mobile Arena on August 14, 2025, under a new naming rights deal withXfinity Mobile, a subsidiary ofComcast (Spectacor, a subsidiary company, owns the arena).[66]
TheOrlando 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.[68]
TheLos 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.[69]
ThePhoenix Suns unveiled a new black Statement Edition uniform. The uniform takes inspiration fromArizona'ssunsets with apurple andorangeThe Valley gradient throughout its design. A boldPhoenix 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 theUtah Jazz in their first2025 NBA Cup game.[70]
The NBA, in partnership withTopps, 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 theMost Valuable Player,Rookie of the Year andDefensive Player of the Year would wear a gold NBA logo patch on the back of their uniforms for the entire season.[71] All award winners and members of last season'sAll-NBA,All-Rookie andAll-Defensive teams also wore a special patch on their uniforms (or lapels in the case ofCoach of the Year andExecutive 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 bySotheby's throughout the season.[72]LeBron James would also wear a special patch on his uniform commemorating his record 23rd NBA season, starting with the January 12 game at theSacramento Kings. This design featured his trademark chalk toss silhouette in front of each of the four colors corresponding to the teams he played: navy for his first stint with theCleveland Cavaliers, red for theMiami Heat, wine for his second stint with the Cavaliers, and gold for the Los Angeles Lakers.[73]
This is the first season of new 11-year deals with theESPN family of networks,NBC Sports andAmazon Prime Video. The ESPN networks renewed their contract with a modified schedule. NBC and Prime Video both replaceTNT, with NBC returning to televising the NBA for the first time since2001–02, and Prime Video signing its first U.S. national contract with the league.[74][75]
Linear television
ESPN will continue to airNBA Wednesday doubleheader 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 ofSunday Night Baseball.[76] All these ESPN games will continue to be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcast.[77] ABC then airs nineNBA Saturday Primetime games (one game per week unless mentioned) on seven Saturdays between January 24 and March 14 (including two doubleheaders on January 24 and February 7), and eightNBA Sunday Showcase games on five Sunday afternoons on February 8 and from February 22 to March 15 (including doubleheaders on three straight Sundays from February 22 to March 8). One additional game will be scheduled due to the cancellation of Golden State-Minnesota on January 24.[78] FiveChristmas Day games will be ABC/ESPN simulcasts. ESPN will also continue to air theNBA All-Star Celebrity Game and the 2026 NBA draft.[75][79][80]
NBC's schedule begins with theNBA Tip-Off doubleheader on opening night, Tuesday, October 21. The network will then airCoast 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, andNBC affiliates have the option to show one or both games;[81] national doubleheaders will instead air on December 23 and 30, and no games will air on the broadcast network on February 24 due to NBC News coverage (these two games will be replaced on a date to be determined).[82][78] NBC will also airSunday Night Basketball games on eight Sundays from February 1 to April 5 (excluding February 8 forSuper Bowl LX) three of these weeks (February 1, March 29 and April 5) will be doubleheaders, carrying on fromSunday Night Football after theNFL season. Additionally, NBC will have a national doubleheader on Monday, December 29, aMartin Luther King Jr. Day tripleheader, andNBA All-Star Weekend (except for the Celebrity game).[81][41][75][83][84][85][82] TheCoast 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.[77]Telemundo will also air tenSunday Night Basketball games, theMexico City Global Game, and the All-Star Game in Spanish.[83][86] From November 17 onward, the newly relaunchedNBCSN cable channel will also carry all games exclusive to Peacock, and thereverse mirror feed of the regionalCoast 2 Coast Tuesday games not airing on each respective local NBC affiliate.[87]
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 along with a doubleheader on February 10 due to NBC's coverage of the2026 Winter Olympics.[77][88] 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.[89]
Streaming
Amazon Prime Video will stream Friday night doubleheaders during most of the regular season, 22 Thursday night games during most weeks between January 15 and April 9 (except on March 19 and 26) with two games per week, carrying on fromThursday Night Football after the NFL season, and eight Saturday afternoon games on select weekends on January 10 and 31, February 7 and 28, March 7, 14 and 28 and April 4.[90] The streaming service will also have the Berlin and LondonGlobal games, and the entire knockout round of the NBA Cup.[75][90][91] A select number of Prime Video's games will be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcasts.[92]
Peacock will exclusively streamPeacock NBA Monday games (one to three games will air each week), theMexico City Global Game, one exclusive Martin Luther King Jr. Day game, and two additional games on February 24 (a Tuesday) due to NBC News coverage airing on the broadcast network.[75][83][85] A select number of these regular season games will also be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcasts.[92] The service will also simulcast all games airing on NBC.[75][83][85]
The league-ownedNBA 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.[95]
Except for theToronto 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.[96][97] 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.[95] 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.[98] NBC/Peacock will broadcast the Western Conference Finals, though NBC themselves revealed this later before the start of the regular season.[99] ABC remains as the exclusive broadcaster of theNBA Finals, which it has aired exclusively since 2003.[95]
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.[102] ESPN's existing studio show,NBA Countdown, will then air on the other nights throughout the season.[103]
Prior to the season, the Hawks, Cavaliers, Heat, Timberwolves and Bucks reached an extension withFanDuel Sports Network to keep their local games on the network until at least the 2026–27 season.[128] The Heat later announced an agreement withWPLG, a localover-the-air station in Miami, to simulcast 12 regular season games with FanDuel Sports Network.[129]
The Magic announced an agreement withHearst Television to simulcast 10 games over-the-air in both Orlando and Tampa Bay. Games will air onWESH orWKCF in Orlando, andWMOR-TV in Tampa Bay.[131]
In December 2025, theWall Street Journal reported thatDAZN was in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake inMain Street Sports Group, the owner of the FanDuel Sports Networks. If the deal goes through, DAZN and Main Street would integrate their live streaming platform in the United States and collaborate on programming.[132] Afterwards,Sports Business Journal reported that Main Street had missed a payment to theSt. Louis Cardinals baseball team and that the company would be forced to dissolve operations at the end of the 2025–26 season if the deal with DAZN did not go through by the end of January 2026.[133] In January,Sports Business Journal reported that Main Street had missed payments to "several, if not all 13" of its NBA teams. As a result, Main Street and the teams with missed payments entered a 15-day grace period.[134] Two days later,Sports Business Journal reported that talks with DAZN had stopped progressing and allMLB teams except theTampa Bay Rays had not received payments on-time.[135]
On January 8, 2026, all nine MLB teams with agreements with FanDuel Sports Network terminated their contracts with the company due to missed payments.[136] On February 2, 2026, Main Street confirmed that it would no longer air MLB games, but stated it would continue broadcasting NBA and NHL games for at least the rest of the season.Sports Business Journal however reported that Main Street also missed paying the February rights fees on time, and that the networks' future viability is in doubt without the MLB.[137]
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.[90]
ESPN will additionally air its slate of games in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and the Netherlands, and will air games throughDisney+ 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.[138]
NBC will additionally air its slate of games onSky Sports in theUnited 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).[139]
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.[140]
This is the sixth season of the league's muti-year deal withSiriusXM andSiriusXM Canada to simulcast all 30 teams' local regular-season and postseason broadcasts.[141]
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.[142]
On October 13, 2025, theMilwaukee Bucks signedAlex Antetokounmpo to a two-way deal. With his brothersGiannis andThanasis, this marks the first time in NBA history that three brothers have been on the same team's roster at the same time.[143]
On October 23, 2025, theOklahoma City Thunder became the first team in NBA history to head to double overtime in both of their first two games of the season.[145]
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.[146]
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.[146]
On October 29, 2025,Nikola Jokić set the record for most triple-doubles in under 30 minutes, with 17. The previous record was held byRussell Westbrook.[147] He also tied the record for most consecutive triple-doubles to start the season, with 4; the record is also held by Westbrook andOscar Robertson.[148]
On November 10, 2025, theCleveland Cavaliers set the record for most consecutive regular-season games with at least 10 three-pointers, with 98. The previous record was held by theHouston Rockets with a streak from 2018 to 2020. The streak ended on December 3, 2025, at 110 games.[149]
On November 14, 2025,Russell Westbrook became the second player afterLeBron James to record 25,000 career points and 10,000 career assists.[151]
On November 18, 2025, LeBron James set the record for most seasons played, with 23, breaking the record he held withVince Carter.[152]
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 theToronto Raptors.[153]
On December 6, 2025, theNew York Knicks opened the game with a 23–0 scoring run against theUtah Jazz, the largest game-opening run without an opponent scoring since the league began keeping detailed play-by-play records in the 1997–98 season.[154]
On December 10, 2025, the Oklahoma City Thunder tied the record for the best 25-game start, going 24–1 with a victory over thePhoenix Suns. This matches the record set by the2015–16 Golden State Warriors.[155]
On December 14, 2025,Stephen Curry broke the all time record for most 40-point games after the age of 30, surpassingMichael Jordan with a 48-point game in a 131–139 loss to the Trailblazers.
On December 15, 2025,Cooper Flagg became the youngest player to score 40 points, at the age of 18 years, 359 days. The previous record of 19 years, 88 days was held by LeBron James.
On December 20, 2025, LeBron James became the oldest player to score 30 points, at the age of 40 years, 355 days. The previous record of 40 years, 294 days was held byDirk Nowitzki.
On December 22, 2025,Kon Knueppel set the record for the fewest games to make 100 three-pointers, with 29. The previous record of 41 was held byLauri Markkanen.[156]
On December 25, 2025, Nikola Jokić set the record for the most points in a single overtime period, with 18. The previous record of 17 was held by Stephen Curry. In the same game he set the record for the most points in a 15/15/15 game with 56. The previous record of 53 was held byJames Harden.
On January 8, 2026,Rick Carlisle became the 11th head coach to record 1,000 regular season wins.[157]
On January 28, 2026, LeBron James became the first player to play 60,000 career minutes in the regular season.[159]
On January 29, 2026, Cooper Flagg set the record for most points in a game by a teenager, with 49 in a loss to theCharlotte Hornets. The previous record of 45 was held byCliff Robinson.[160]
On February 12, 2026, LeBron James became the oldest player to record a triple-double, at the age of 41 years, 44 days. The previous record of 40 years, 127 days was held byKarl Malone.[161]
