NBA announces 2026 national TV schedule on ESPN/ABC, NBC, Prime

The NBA has revealed its national television schedule for the 2026 season, which will see an increase in games shown on broadcast television.

The NBA will air 90 games on over-the-air television in 2026, up from 79 last year. That comes while the total number of nationally televised games, 247, remains unchanged.

Other notable changes include no nationally televised NBA games on Super Bowl Sunday. ABC has long aired a game in the early afternoon, but that was unlikely to happen this year with ABC and ESPN both airing the Super Bowl.

Prime Video will also have an intriguing NBA-NFL doubleheader on New Year’s Eve. Nuggets-Timberwolves will air on Prime at 4 p.m. ET, leading into Ravens-Bengals on Thursday Night Football at 8 p.m ET.

As previously reported, NBC will air the first ever Presidents Day quadrupleheader on February 15, 2027.

Here are some specifics by network.

NBC leads the way with 69 games on broadcast TV in the 2026 season. As previously announced, NBC will begin the season with a tripleheader for the NBA tip-off on Tuesday, October 20, with Celtics-Pistons at 3 p.m., 76ers-Knicks at 7 p.m. and Thunder-Spurs at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The Celtics-Knicks broadcast will be an “on the bench” production. The game will be called by Terry Gannon, with Robbie Hummel doing color commentary from the Pistons bench and Brian Scalabrine on the Celtics bench.

NBC will continue to air games on Tuesday nights all season long, with Sunday Night Basketball beginning on January 24. Peacock and NBCSN will air games on Monday nights, though will air less doubleheaders, especially in the first half of the season. All Monday night games on NBCSN will be “on the bench” games.

As with last year, the Tuesday games will be regionalized. The early game, usually at 8 p.m. ET, will air on NBC in East Coast markets, while the late game, at 11 p.m. ET, will air on NBC for West Coast markets. Both games will stream on Peacock.

One Tuesday where NBC won’t have a game is November 3, which is Election Day. The NBA had games on Election Day last year, but didn’t in the several years before that.

Similar to last year, NBC will add doubleheaders during the end of December. These doubleheaders will air on Tuesday, December 22, Monday, December 28 and Tuesday, December 29.

Sunday Night Basketball begins with Thunder-Warriors on Sunday, January 24, and will stretch nine of the next 10 weeks, with a break for the All-Star Game on February 24. Seven weeks will feature doubleheaders, beginning February 7.

ESPN’s coverage will begin with a doubleheader on Wednesday, October 21, with the Heat taking on the Timberwolves and the Warriors against the Lakers. ESPN will air Wednesday doubleheaders in consecutive weeks until November 25, then take a break until December 16. ESPN will also air Friday night games in select weeks from January to March.

November 25, the day before Thanksgiving, will be a tripleheader for the second consecutive year.

ABC’s schedule begins early this year, with a Saturday primetime game between the Knicks and the Heat on December 12.

That leads into ESPN and ABC’s Christmas slate on December 25. All five games will be simulcast across ESPN and ABC, an approach the networks have leaned on in recent years to counter competing holiday programming.

ABC will return to NBA action by airing four games on Saturday, January 30. According to Sports Business Journal, that is the first time outside of Christmas that four regular-season games have aired on over-the-air television.

As a result of these additions, ABC will air a more limited Sunday afternoon doubleheader schedule compared to previous years, with just three consecutive weeks beginning February 28.

ESPN will again wrap up the regular season with a to-be-determined doubleheader on Sunday, April 11, at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m ET.

Prime Video will begin its schedule on Friday, October 23, with Knicks-Celtics at 7 p.m. and Rockets-Spurs at 9 p.m. ET. Prime Video will air Friday night doubleheaders for six consecutive weeks, through November 27.

Prime Video’s first primetime Thursday game will be January 7, with primetime Thursday games becoming weekly starting January 21.

The Amazon-owned streamer will return to Saturday afternoon games beginning February 6. The streaming service will also air afternoon games from Europe between the Spurs and Pelicans on Thursday, January 14 and Sunday, January 17.

Note: The NBA has not announced which games will air on NBA TV this upcoming season.

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