On Tuesday, the NBA officially began the march towards the 2026–27 regular season by revealing the national television schedules for the two single most important days of the year before the playoffs: opening night and Christmas day. It’s become an annual right of passage for the league to unveil those games with great gusto in an attempt to engineer a news cycle in the middle of the summer. And rarely are there any surprises, particularly on opening night.
The formula for the first games of the year has been simple for years. There are two games. One features the defending champions, who begin their season at home against a conference rival of some sort. There’s a whole ceremony in which they raise their banner and get their rings. The second game of the night will feature whatever combination of teams can offer the most star power packed into one matchup.
