2026–27 NBA season

The 2026–27 NBA season is the upcoming 81st season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season is expected to begin in October 2026, and end in April 2027. The fourth edition of the in-season NBA Cup tournament is planned to be held in November and December 2026. The 2027 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for February 21 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona.^[1] The play-in tournament is then planned to be played in April 2027 followed by the playoffs the next day, and conclude with the NBA Finals in June.

The 2026 NBA draft's date and location will be announced at a later date.^[2]

Each year, free agency negotiations begin on June 30 at 6 p.m. ET, and each team may then start to officially sign players after the July moratorium on July 6 at 12 p.m. ET.^[3]

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.

The NBA is expected to release the regular season schedule in August 2026.

The NBA plans to hold regular season games in 2027 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England and at Accor Arena in Paris, France, with dates and teams to be announced at a later date.^[5]

The NBA Cup is expected to have the same basic structure as previous seasons:^[6]

• All games except the championship final count towards the regular-season standings.
• Six intraconference pools of five (three pools per conference).
• Group games against each of the other teams in their pool (two at home and two on the road) will be held on Fridays and other select days in November.
• The winners of each pool (three teams per conference) and two wild-card teams (one team per conference) advance to a single-elimination tournament in early December.
• To compensate, only 80 regular season games for each team is initially announced during the offseason. The first two rounds of the tournament count as regular-season games 81 and 82. The championship game is an extra 83rd game that does not count toward the regular season. Teams that do not qualify for knockout round, or are eliminated in the quarterfinals, will then be scheduled additional games against other teams eliminated in the same conference (if possible) and round to reach 82 games.
• The NBA is seeking a new site this season to replace T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada as the host of the semifinals and championship game.^[7]

This will be the second season of 11-year deals with the ESPN family of networks, NBC Sports and Amazon Prime Video.^[8][9]

• ESPN's schedule includes NBA Wednesday throughout the regular season, as well as games on select Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. ABC and ESPN will air a slate of Christmas Day games before ABC carries NBA Saturday Primetime and NBA Sunday Showcase games on select weekends between January and March. ESPN will also have coverage of the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.^[9][10]
• NBC's schedule begins with the opening night doubleheader before airing weekly Coast 2 Coast Tuesdays doubleheaders throughout the rest of the regular season; during most weeks NBC affiliates will have the option to show the 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT game, the 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT contest, or both Tuesday games at their discretion. NBC will also have Sunday Night Basketball between February and April, games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day, and the NBA All-Star Game.^[9][11] NBCSN will be utilized as an overflow channel as well as simulcasting Peacock-exclusive NBA telecasts.^[12]
• NBA TV will continue to televise select games throughout the regular season, simulcast from regional broadcasters.^[13]

• Amazon Prime Video's schedule includes Friday night games throughout the regular season (including most NBA Cup group stage nights), Thursday night games between February and April, and select Saturday and Sunday afternoon games. The streaming service will also have the entire knockout round of the NBA Cup.^[9][14]
• The ESPN app's Unlimited plan will stream all ESPN-produced games. The ESPN app's lower Select plan and Disney+ may also stream select games.^[10]
• Peacock will simulcast all games aired by the NBC broadcast network, including both Coast 2 Coast Tuesday games nationwide. Peacock will also have exclusive Monday night games throughout the season.^[9][11]
• The league-owned NBA League Pass will continue to offer out-of-market games, and live access to NBA TV.

Amazon Prime Video will broadcast all play-in tournament games,^[15] and 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.^[15]

Per a rotation, ESPN/ABC will air a conference final, and Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream the other conference final. ABC will have NBA Finals for the 25th consecutive season.^[15]

FanDuel Sports Network is expected to fold after the 2025–26 season.^[16][17] While some affected teams may find a replacement broadcaster, the NBA is also exploring plans to launch a centralized hub like Major League Baseball Local Media.^[18][19]