Opening night is seven days out, but the preseason board is already giving the 2026-27 schedule some shape. Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball clicked at Madison Square Garden on Monday, while the Lakers and Warriors are headed for a Las Vegas tuneup before their Oct. 21 regular-season opener.
Quick scan
- The 2026-27 season opens Oct. 20 with a three-game NBC/Peacock slate.
- Nine nationally televised games are scheduled over the league’s first four days.
- Minnesota beat New York 122-104 behind 26 points from Anthony Edwards.
- Los Angeles plays Golden State at 10 p.m. ET Tuesday in Las Vegas on NBA TV.
- Cleveland visits Orlando at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday on Peacock.
The Oct. 20 opener starts in Detroit, where Cade Cunningham’s Pistons host a reshaped Boston group featuring Jayson Tatum and Paul George. Boston and Detroit were the East’s top two seeds last season.
The night continues at Madison Square Garden, with champion New York beginning its title defense against Philadelphia. LeBron James and Jaylen Brown are set for their first regular-season game in Sixers uniforms.
Oklahoma City-San Antonio closes opening night at 9:30 p.m. ET. The Thunder went 64-18 last season but finished 1-4 against the Spurs, then lost a seven-game Western Conference finals series to San Antonio. Two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander opens against Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama.
Wednesday’s ESPN doubleheader introduces two remade contenders. Minnesota takes its new Edwards-Ball pairing to Miami, where Giannis Antetokounmpo is joining Bam Adebayo. Golden State then visits a Lakers team now centered around Luka Dončić in the franchise’s first regular-season look after LeBron James.
Thursday brings Cleveland to Philadelphia, where James faces his former Cavs club led by Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. Denver then visits Oklahoma City in a matchup of Nikola Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander, winners of five of the past six MVP awards between them. Jokić has three; Gilgeous-Alexander has two.
The opening run concludes Friday on Prime. The Knicks travel to Boston, with Mitchell Robinson facing New York after helping the franchise win the title last June. Houston then meets San Antonio at the University of Texas’ Moody Center in Austin, where former Longhorn Kevin Durant returns to Texas against Wembanyama and the Spurs.
Monday’s preseason slate offered Minnesota an early return on its new backcourt. Edwards scored 26 points and hit five 3-pointers in the Wolves’ 122-104 win over New York, including a 36-footer at the halftime horn that put Minnesota ahead by 12.
Ball had 10 points and seven assists, helping Edwards score 14 in the first quarter. Jaden McDaniels added 22 points while shooting 4-for-5 from deep. Jalen Brunson posted 20 points and five rebounds for the Knicks, and Minnesota improved to 3-1 in preseason play.
Brooklyn handled Washington 131-122 behind Michael Porter Jr.’s 22 points. Julius Randle supplied 14 points and nine assists, while Trae Young recorded 11 points and 11 assists for the Wizards. AJ Dybantsa had 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, punctuating his night with a putback followed immediately by a steal-and-dunk sequence.
Utah beat San Antonio 119-109 as No. 2 overall pick Darryn Peterson put up 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting and handed out five assists. Harrison Barnes scored 19 for the Spurs. Lauri Markkanen finished with 11 points and a windmill dunk, while Jaren Jackson Jr. added 13 points and delivered a left-handed poster finish.
Atlanta slipped past Oklahoma City 113-110 in a game with 10 ties and 15 lead changes. With much of the Thunder’s main rotation unavailable, rookies Bennett Stirtz and Aday Mara carried the load: Stirtz scored 26 points, made six 3s and added five assists; Mara had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Atlanta’s Asa Newell scored the Hawks’ final two baskets, both inside the last 1:11, to put the game away. Nickeil Alexander-Walker filled the line with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Jock Landale led Atlanta with 17 points and added six rebounds and five assists.
Portland routed England’s London Lions 119-66. Ja Morant scored five points and handed out a game-high five assists in 13 minutes, including two spinning, no-look feeds that set up dunks.
Tuesday’s Lakers-Warriors exhibition at T-Mobile Arena is the first of two meetings in eight days. They reconvene on Oct. 21 in Los Angeles for the ESPN regular-season matchup. The immediate focus for the Lakers is chemistry around Dončić and a heavily changed roster.
Coach JJ Redick has not tried to lower the volume around his group’s ceiling. When asked Sept. 24 about the Lakers’ championship chances, the third-year coach offered an unusually direct assessment rather than the customary effort to manage expectations.
Orlando gets another shot at Cleveland after the Cavaliers’ 119-105 win Sunday. The Magic-Cavs rematch airs at 7 p.m. ET on Peacock. League Pass also carries Knicks-Raptors at 7 p.m. ET, a 2025 Finals rematch between Indiana and Oklahoma City at 8 p.m. ET, and Portland-Kings at 10 p.m. ET.
Elsewhere in the West, Utah enters the season believing its young talent can push for a playoff berth while its two recent top-five selections keep developing. Sacramento is banking on the long-term growth of Darius Acuff Jr. and Nique Clifford, a combination viewed as potentially dangerous in two or three years.
Denver’s optimistic note is Aaron Gordon’s health after he missed 49 of a possible 88 games last season, playoffs included. New Orleans found a productive lineup sample around Dejounte Murray: the Pelicans were plus-6.6 points per 100 possessions over 303 minutes when Murray played alongside at least two of Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III and Zion Williamson.
Fantasy managers also have a new, lower-maintenance option this season. Yahoo High Score uses 10-player rosters, with six starters each week: two guards, three frontcourt players and one flex spot. Four players remain on the bench.
The format awards one point each for points and rebounds, two for assists and three apiece for steals and blocks. Turnovers do not reduce a player’s total. Only each starter’s best fantasy performance of the week counts, and managers can set a lineup once for the week, though moving a player to the bench erases the score he had already accumulated.
NBA ID Member Days are scheduled for Oct. 15-16, with eligible NBA ID holders able to stream up to 14 League Pass games at no charge. The WNBA Finals begin Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, when the Golden State Valkyries host the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 on NBC and Peacock. Both clubs are chasing their first championship.
