The 2026–27 NBA season is the 81st season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season is scheduled to run from October 20, 2026, to April 11, 2027. The fourth edition of the in-season NBA Cup tournament is planned to run from October 30 to December 11, 2026. The 2027 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for February 21, 2027, at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The play-in tournament is then planned for April 13–16, following with the playoffs that will begin on April 17, and ending with the NBA Finals in June.
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Retirements On July 4, 2026, Garrett Temple was hired as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks. He played for 12 teams over a 17-year career. On July 7, 2026, Kyle Lowry announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played 20 seasons with the NBA, and was an NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. Lowry was the last active player from the 2006 NBA draft. On August 12, 2026, Russell Westbrook announced his retirement from professional basketball. He played 18 seasons with the NBA, appeared in the NBA Finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012, and won the NBA Most Valuable Player award in 2017.
Draft The 2026 NBA draft took place on June 23–24 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Free agency Free agency negotiations began on June 30 at 6 p.m. ET. Players may be signed after the July moratorium on July 6 at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Coaching changes + Coaching changes Team 2025–26 season 2026–27 seasonOff-season Chicago Bulls Billy Donovan Tiago Splitter Dallas Mavericks Jason Kidd Dusty May Milwaukee Bucks Doc Rivers Taylor Jenkins New Orleans Pelicans James Borrego (interim) Jamahl Mosley Orlando Magic Jamahl Mosley Sean Sweeney Portland Trail Blazers Tiago Splitter (interim) Micah Nori
Off-season On April 13, 2026, Doc Rivers resigned from his position as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. On April 21, 2026, Billy Donovan stepped down as the Chicago Bulls' head coach. On April 30, 2026, the Milwaukee Bucks hired Taylor Jenkins as their new head coach. On May 4, 2026, the Orlando Magic fired head coach Jamahl Mosley after five seasons with the team. On May 18, 2026, the New Orleans Pelicans hired Jamahl Mosley as their new head coach. On May 19, 2026, the Dallas Mavericks and head coach Jason Kidd mutually agreed to part ways. On June 1, 2026, the Orlando Magic hired Sean Sweeney as their new head coach. On June 16, 2026, the Chicago Bulls hired Tiago Splitter as their new head coach. On June 23, 2026, the Portland Trail Blazers hired Micah Nori as their new head coach. On June 23, 2026, the Dallas Mavericks hired Dusty May as their new head coach.
Preseason 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.
Domestic neutral site games +DateTeamsArenaLocationReferenceOctober 3Miami Heat vs. Toronto RaptorsCentre VidéotronQuebec City, QuebecOctober 4Utah Jazz vs. Denver NuggetsCU Events CenterBoulder, ColoradoGolden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles ClippersStan Sheriff CenterHonolulu, HawaiiOctober 6New Orleans Pelicans vs. Oklahoma City ThunderBOK CenterTulsa, OklahomaOctober 7Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Indiana PacersHilton ColiseumAmes, IowaOctober 10Los Angeles Clippers vs. Toronto RaptorsRogers ArenaVancouver, British ColumbiaOctober 13Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles LakersT-Mobile ArenaParadise, Nevada
International games
+DateTeamsArenaLocationReferenceOctober 9 Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks Venetian Arena Macau, ChinaOctober 11 Dallas Mavericks vs. Houston Rockets
Non-NBA opponents +DateTeamsArenaLocationReferenceOctober 12London Lions @ Portland Trail BlazersModa CenterPortland, Oregon
Regular season The NBA released the regular-season schedule on August 13, with select games announced in advance of the full schedule release.
International games The NBA plans to hold regular-season games in 2027 at Accor Arena in Paris, France on January 14 and at Co-op Live in Manchester, United Kingdom on January 17 between the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans.
+DateTeamsArenaLocationReferenceWinnerNBA Mexico City Game 2026November 7Denver Nuggets vs. Indiana PacersMexico City ArenaMexico City, Mexico TBDNBA Paris Game 2027January 14New Orleans Pelicans vs. San Antonio SpursAccor ArenaParis, France TBDNBA Manchester Game 2027January 17San Antonio Spurs vs. New Orleans PelicansCo-op LiveManchester, United Kingdom TBD
NBA Cup
The NBA Cup is expected to have the same basic structure as previous seasons:
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 is eliminated in the quarterfinals will be scheduled additional games against other teams eliminated in the same conference (if possible) and round to reach 82 games. The semifinals will move to the home arenas of the higher-seeded teams in each conference. The championship game for this edition will be held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of a new vision to host the game at more distinct and iconic basketball arenas. It will replace T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, which hosted the championship game during the first three editions of the Cup.
Uniform and logo changes The Houston Rockets unveiled new uniforms resembling the "ketchup and mustard" look that was used during their back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995. The "R" logo remains as the team's primary mark, but with an added yellow accent to reflect its reintroduction into the Rockets' color scheme. The Minnesota Timberwolves unveiled a new logo and uniforms. The new logo resembles their previous mark introduced in 2017, but using a color scheme similar to the one used from the franchise's inception in 1989 until 1996. The Icon and Association uniforms also resemble the original look of the Timberwolves while the Statement uniform resembles their black uniforms from the Kevin Garnett era.
Media Television National This will be the second season of 11-year deals with the ESPN family of networks, NBC Sports, Amazon Prime Video and NBA TV.
Linear television ESPN continues to primarily carry Wednesday night regular-season games and the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, along with producing NBA Saturday Primetime and NBA Sunday Showcase on ABC, the slate of five ESPN/ABC simulcasts on Christmas Day, and the primetime doubleheader on the final night of the regular season. Games only on ESPN will continue to be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcasts. ESPN's schedule also includes a Thursday doubleheader on opening week, an NBA Cup group stage tripleheader on November 25, select Friday night games between January and March, a Saturday west coast game on March 13, and a Sunday afternoon doubleheader on Easter Sunday March 28. This season's NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC is scheduled for seven select weeks between December and March, including a quadruple header on January 30. This season's NBA Sunday Showcase will only be doubleheaders on three consecutive weekends in late February and March. This is partly due to ABC carrying Super Bowl LXI in mid-February, airing the NFL's championship game for the first time since 2006, among other commitments. ABC will also air a Sunday doubleheader on the day of the Academy Awards for the first time since 2007, with special 12 and 2:30 p.m. ET time slots leading into the 99th Academy Awards. On the final day of the regular season, April 11, two games with playoff implications will be flexed into an ESPN primetime doubleheader. NBC continues to have opening night games, Coast 2 Coast Tuesday doubleheaders, late-season Sunday Night Basketball, Martin Luther King Jr. Day games, and the NBA All-Star Game. In comparison to the prior season, the NBC broadcast network will air 11 more games. This season's opening night NBA Tip-Off expands to a tripleheader for the first time. Like the previous season, the Coast 2 Coast Tuesday doubleheader format will then air during most weeks of the regular season, with NBC affiliates having 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 formalized the late-December national doubleheaders it aired in 2025 as Holiday Hoops, which will air on December 22, 28 and 29, with 8 and 10:30 p.m. ET windows replacing Coast 2 Coast Tuesdays where applicable. Sunday Night Basketball expands to 16 games, adding two weeks of standalone games in January that will air against the NFL playoffs. The remaining schedule between February and April will all be doubleheaders. Daytime tripleheaders are scheduled on NBC this season on both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day. NBCSN will serve as an overflow channel for NBC, as well as simulcasting Peacock's Monday and other telecasts. Telemundo has Spanish-language broadcasts of 10 Sunday Night Basketball games and the All-Star Game. NBA TV will continue to televise select games throughout the regular season when the other broadcasters are not airing games, simulcast from regional broadcasters. NBA TV's schedule this season includes the Mexico City Global Game.
Streaming Amazon Prime Video continues to have Friday night doubleheaders throughout most of the regular season (including most NBA Cup group stage nights, one of those is a doubleheader to lead out its Black Friday Football game on November 27), late-season Thursday night games, and late-season Saturday afternoon games, as well as the entire knockout round of the NBA Cup and both European Global games. As Christmas Day lands on a Friday in 2026, Prime Video will instead have its doubleheader for that week on Wednesday, December 23. Prime Video's Thursday schedule this season begins with a New Year's Eve afternoon game as a lead in to the Thursday Night Football finale. Thursday night doubleheaders are then primarily scheduled between January and April, with the January 14 Paris Global game instead serving as an afternoon singleheader. Saturday afternoon games (mostly doubleheaders) then run on select weeks in February and March. The ESPN app's Unlimited plan will stream all ESPN-produced games. The ESPN app's lower Select plan or Disney+ may also stream select games. Peacock will simulcast all games aired by the NBC broadcast network, including both Coast 2 Coast Tuesday games nationwide. Peacock will also have Monday night games throughout most of the regular season (with one to two games per week, except December 28 which airs on the NBC broadcast network), including night games on both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day. The league-owned NBA League Pass will continue to offer out-of-market games, and live access to NBA TV.
Postseason