The NBA schedule has dropped, and it has all the drama we were looking forward to: rivalries, revenge games, stars returning to face the teams they left, and plenty of high-level clashes — and a lot of them on NBC and Peacock.
Here are 20 don’t-miss games from the upcoming NBA season.
• Oct. 21: Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder. Opening night of the season and the return of the NBA to NBC for the first time in 24 years — plus the debut of the NBA on Peacock. And you couldn’t come up with a better first game as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder get their championship rings from Adam Silver and raise the first banner won in the city to the rafters. All of that in front of Kevin Durant, arguably the greatest player ever to pull a Thunder jersey over his head, but a guy who was never able to win that ring in OKC. He doesn’t seem too stressed about it, though.
Finally. It’s been 10 years, bout time they win one lmaooo
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 10, 2025
• Oct. 24, Detroit Pistons at Houston Rockets. Twins Ausar Thompson (Detroit) and Amen Thompson (Houston) go head-to-head in a fun early-season contest.
• Oct. 27: Denver Nuggets at Minnesota Timberwolves. The first night of Peacock NBA Monday — where games stream exclusively on Peacock — features a showdown from two of the top teams and players in the West. Get an early look at a much deeper Nuggets squad around Nikola Jokic as they go up against Anthony Edwards and a Timberwolves team that has been to the Western Conference Finals back-to-back years.
• Oct. 31: Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers. It’s the first game of the NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament. Tune in to see what the Cup Court looks like in Philly, and if Joel Embiid and Paul George are playing. If they are, Philly can hang with anyone.
• Nov. 1: Dallas Mavericks at Detroit Pistons. The NBA returns to Mexico City and is exporting what should be an entertaining contest featuring Cade Cunningham, Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis. This game will be streamed on…
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