ESPN/ABC, NBC/Peacock, Prime Video Set National Slates for Year 2 of NBA Rights Deal

Season tips off Oct. 20 and runs through April 11; Christmas Day, NBA Cup, All-Star in Phoenix, and Prime Video's first exclusive Eastern Conference Finals anchor the calendar

The NBA has released its complete 2026-27 regular-season schedule, along with the national broadcast and streaming schedules for Disney (ABC, ESPN, ESPN App, ESPN Radio), NBCUniversal (NBC, Peacock, NBCSN) and Amazon (Prime Video) - filling out the second year of the league's 11-year media-rights agreement.

The league's 81st regular season opens Tuesday, Oct. 20, with an American Express NBA Tip-Off 2026 tripleheader on NBC and Peacock and concludes Sunday, April 11, 2027, with all 30 teams in action and an ESPN doubleheader to be determined. Every national game is available on a broadly distributed streaming service: the ESPN App for ABC/ESPN games, Peacock for NBCUniversal games, and Prime Video for Amazon games. NBA TV's game schedule will be announced at a later date.

Roster movement over the summer shapes much of the marquee national inventory. LeBron James and Jaylen Brown are now with the Philadelphia 76ers, Giannis Antetokounmpo has joined the Miami Heat, and LaMelo Ball has moved to the Minnesota Timberwolves - debuts and return games that each partner has built windows around. The defending champion New York Knicks and Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs draw the heaviest national usage across all three.

The schedule includes defined dates and opponents for 80 of each team's 82 games. The two unassigned games per team, to be played Friday, Dec. 4, through Thursday, Dec. 10, will be set by the results of Emirates NBA Cup 2026 Group Play. Group Play comprises 60 games on Cup Nights every Friday from Oct. 30 through Nov. 27, plus Tuesday, Nov. 24, and Wednesday, Nov. 25.

The league is also expanding schedule-access tooling: Tap to Watch routes fans to live national, local, international, and NBA League Pass telecasts through the NBA App, NBA.com, team digital platforms, and partner sites, and fans can now sync the schedule to digital calendars via nba.ecal.com with embedded Tap to Watch links.

Disney: ABC, ESPN, ESPN App, ESPN Radio The season marks ESPN's 25th consecutive year of NBA game coverage. The network carries Wednesday night doubleheaders throughout the regular season and adds select Friday doubleheaders beginning in January. On ABC, the package splits between NBA Saturday Primetime on Saturday nights and NBA Sunday Showcase in Sunday afternoon windows.

Opening week. ESPN opens with doubleheaders on the second and third days of the season. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the Timberwolves and Ball visit Antetokounmpo's Heat in both players' debuts with their new teams (7:30 p.m. ET), followed by Stephen Curry and the Warriors at Luka Don i and the Lakers (10 p.m.). On Thursday, Oct. 22, James makes his Philadelphia home debut against Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers (7 p.m.), followed by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder hosting Nikola Joki and the Nuggets at Paycom Center (9:30 p.m.).

Thanksgiving Eve. ESPN carries three Emirates NBA Cup Group Play games on Wednesday, Nov. 25: Heat at 76ers (5 p.m.), Timberwolves at Thunder (7:30 p.m.), and Spurs at Trail Blazers (10 p.m.).

Christmas Day. For the 19th consecutive year, the NBA plays five games on Christmas Day, all of them simulcast on ABC, ESPN, and the ESPN App on Friday, Dec. 25. The slate opens with an NBA Finals rematch as the Spurs visit Jalen Brunson and the Knicks at Madison Square Garden (noon), followed by Heat at Celtics (2:30 p.m.), 76ers at Lakers in James' return to Los Angeles (5 p.m.), Thunder at Timberwolves in Minnesota's first Christmas Day home game (8 p.m.), and Nuggets at Warriors (10:30 p.m.).

Pioneers Classic. The second annual NBA Pioneers Classic, honoring the legacy of the league's first Black players, is set for Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m., with Cade Cunningham and the Pistons hosting the Knicks.

Friday doubleheaders. The Jan. 22 doubleheader pairs two 2026 playoff rematches: Knicks at Hawks (7 p.m.) and Timberwolves at Spurs (9:30 p.m.). On Jan. 29, during AWS NBA Rivals Week, the Cavaliers visit the Raptors in a rematch of their 2026 first-round series (7 p.m.), followed by Hornets at Timberwolves (9:30 p.m.).

NBA Saturday Primetime. The ABC package begins Dec. 12 with the Knicks at the Heat (8:30 p.m.). Its centerpiece is a Jan. 30 AWS NBA Rivals Week quadrupleheader: 76ers at Heat (12:30 p.m.), Nuggets at Thunder (3 p.m.), Spurs at Warriors (5:30 p.m.), and Lakers at Knicks (8:30 p.m.). The Nuggets-Thunder window pairs Joki and Gilgeous-Alexander, winners of four of the past five MVP awards. Additional Saturday dates include Lakers-Spurs (Feb. 6), Warriors-Knicks (Feb. 13), 76ers-Knicks (Feb. 27), Thunder-Lakers (March 6), and 76ers-Timberwolves (March 13).

NBA Sunday Showcase. Three Sunday afternoon doubleheaders in February and March. The first, on Feb. 28, has the Spurs hosting the Nuggets at Moody Center in Austin, TX (1 p.m.), followed by Lakers at Mavericks (3:30 p.m.). March 7 pairs Brown's return to Boston with the 76ers against Jayson Tatum and the Celtics, followed by Timberwolves-Nuggets. The package closes March 14 with Celtics-Knicks and Spurs-Thunder.

Super Bowl week. ESPN's first Super Bowl is in Los Angeles, and the network has scheduled two NBA games in the host city ahead of it: Clippers-Lakers on Wednesday, Feb. 10 (10 p.m.) and Nuggets-Lakers on Friday, Feb. 12 (10:30 p.m.), leading into Super Bowl LXI across ESPN and ABC on Feb. 14.

ESPN Radio. National audio coverage runs all season, including 76ers at Knicks on opening night, both Emirates NBA Cup semifinals and the championship game, and the Spurs-Knicks and Heat-Celtics Christmas Day games.

Appearance counts. The Knicks lead ABC with six appearances; the Lakers, 76

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/08/13/espn-abc-nbc-peacock-prime-vide...
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