The NBA is returning to NBC this fall, and the league is celebrating the reunion by putting two marquee matchups on the network from the opening tip.
The league announced Tuesday that the 2025-26 season will tip-off on Tuesday, Oct. 21, with two games on NBC and Peacock: Rockets-Thunder and Warriors-Lakers.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will raise their 2024-25 NBA championship banner as Kevin Durant makes his Houston Rockets debut against his former team at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The 10 p.m. ET nightcap will pin Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors against LeBron James, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers.
NBC last had NBA broadcasting rights from 1990 to 2002. The network, along with Peacock, is returning as part of the league’s new media rights deal through 2036.
NBA on NBC has a star-studded list of commentators, analysts and studio talent for its return. Mike Tirico will serve as the lead play-by-play announcer with Reggie Miller as the lead game analyst. Noah Eagle (play-by-play), Jamal Crawford (game analyst), Grant Hill (game analyst), Zora Stephenson (sideline), Ashley ShahAhmadi (sideline), Maria Taylor (studio host), Ahmed Fareed (studio host), Carmelo Anthony (studio analyst), Vince Carter (studio analyst), Tracy McGrady (studio analyst) and Michael Jordan (special contributor) will also be featured in NBC’s coverage.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 21 with a one-hour, on-site studio show featuring Taylor, Anthony and Carter. Tirico, Miller, Crawford and Stephenson will be on the call for when Rockets-Thunder, while Eagle, Hill and ShahAhmadi will announce Warriors-Lakers with additional on-site coverage from Fareed and McGrady.
The NBA also announced the debut of Peacock NBA Monday with an exclusive streaming doubleheader on Monday, Oct. 27. The Cleveland Cavaliers will visit the Detroit Pistons at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the Denver Nuggets at the Minnesota Timberwolves at 9:30 p.m. ET.
NBC Sports will also present the NBA’s first Martin Luther King Jr. Day quadrupleheader on Jan. 19, 2026. The slate includes Bucks-Hawks (1 p.m. ET, Peacock exclusive), Thunder-Cavaliers (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock), Mavericks-Knicks (5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock) and Celtics-Pistons (8 p.m., NBC/Peacock).
NBC and Peacock will also have a couple other staples during the 2025-26 season.
Coast 2 Coast Tuesday will begin on Oct. 28. On most Tuesdays, an 8 p.m. ET game will be presented to NBC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones, and an 8 p.m. PT game will be presented to stations in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. Both games will stream nationwide on Peacock.
NBC will also launch Sunday Night Basketball on Feb. 1, 2026. It will pause on Feb. 8 and Feb. 15, due to NBC Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl LX, the NBA All-Star Game and the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. From there, it will resume from Feb. 22 and run through April 5.
All games presented by NBC Sports during the 2025-26 season will stream nationwide on Peacock.
The NBA will release the full schedule for the 2025-26 season on Thursday.
John Tesh, composer of the NBA on NBC theme song, discusses its origins, hearing it for the first time and even performs the song.
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