Nine Australians, 26 NBA preseason games, and the only two Aussie-v-Aussie fixtures are simultaneous
Nine Australians are on seven NBA rosters across the 2026 preseasonThe only two Australia-v-Australia games both tip at 11am on October 1718 of the 26 games tip before noon Australian eastern time
Australian Boomers stars Dyson Daniels and Jock Landale open the Australian NBA preseason for Atlanta against Memphis at 10am AEDT on Tuesday October 6, the first of 26 games with an Australian in them.
Atlanta plays Dallas at 11am on Saturday October 17, which puts Daniels and Landale up against Melbourne-born Kyrie Irving.
Minnesota plays Chicago at exactly the same time, and Josh Green and Rocco Zikarsky get Josh Giddey.
Anyone who wants to watch Australians go at each other this preseason has one morning to do it and a choice to make.
The 2026-27 NBA preseason games featuring an Australian confirmed so far, across seven clubs: Atlanta Hawks (Dyson Daniels, Jock Landale, released 25 June), Los Angeles Lakers (Matisse Thybulle, released 21 July), Dallas Mavericks (Kyrie Irving, released 22 July), Chicago Bulls (Josh Giddey, released 28 July), Minnesota Timberwolves (Josh Green, Rocco Zikarsky, released 12 August), Indiana Pacers (Johnny Furphy, released 13 August), Cleveland Cavaliers (Tyrese Proctor, released 19 August). All times converted to Sydney (AEDT, UTC+11) from each venue’s own clock.
It would have been four but Johnny Furphy is still working his way back from the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury he suffered in February and will not play, so Indiana’s two games against Australian opposition go with him.
The rest is simple enough. Giddey, 23, is at Chicago and opens on October 8, Irving, 34, is at Dallas, and Daniels and Landale are both at Atlanta.
Tyrese Proctor, 22, is at Cleveland, Matisse Thybulle, 29, at the Lakers, and Green, 25, and Zikarsky, 20, are both at Minnesota.
Zikarsky is worth watching. The 20-year-old centre is on a two-way deal, which is exactly what preseason exists to sort out, and Minnesota have six games, more than any other club carrying an Australian.
The good news for anyone watching from here is the clock. Of the 26 games, 18 tip before noon in the eastern states.
The other eight belong to three players. All five of Thybulle’s games are early-afternoon starts, because the Lakers are on the west coast and run three hours behind everyone else. Irving’s two games in Macao, on October 9 and 11, are the only genuinely late ones, at 11pm and 9pm. The eighth is Giddey’s trip to Denver on October 12, at noon exactly.
The 26 is worth treating carefully, though. Three clubs published their fixtures weeks after everyone else and two of those grew when they did, so it is what is confirmed as of today and not a final count.