The Miami Heat’s court at Kaseya Center is painted red for the NBA-In-Season Tournament game against the Washington Wizards in Miami on November 3, 2023.
Al Diaz
adiaz@miamiherald.com
Ahead of Thursday’s release of the full NBA schedule for the 2026-27 season, more details on the new-look Miami Heat’s schedule for the upcoming season continued to trickle out on Wednesday.
With the league releasing the NBA Cup in-season tournament’s group-stage schedule on Wednesday, four more games on the Heat’s schedule were revealed.
The Heat’s four group-play games for the NBA Cup will come on Oct. 30 against the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center at 8 p.m., Nov. 13 against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Kaseya Center at 8 p.m., Nov. 25 against the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena at 5 p.m. on ESPN, and Nov. 27 against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden at 7 p.m. on Prime.
Now, six of the Heat’s 82-game regular-season schedule have been revealed. On Tuesday, the NBA announced the Heat would open the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Kaseya Center on Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN and also play on Christmas Day against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Dec. 25 at 2:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN.
Among the six games already revealed, four will be nationally televised. That’s notable, considering that the Heat was scheduled for just five national TV games when its full 82-game schedule was released last August for the 2025-26 season.
This added national exposure is expected after the Heat traded for two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer.
The NBA will release the full regular season schedule for the 2026-27 season on Thursday at 3 p.m.
As for the NBA Cup portion of the schedule that was announced Wednesday, the Heat is looking to advance past the group stage and to the knockout rounds for the second time in the four years that the in-season tournament has existed. The Heat also advanced to the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup last season before falling to the Magic in Orlando in the quarterfinals.
With the NBA’s 30 teams randomly drawn into six groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2025-26 regular season, the winner of each of the six groups and two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in group play that finished second in its group) — a total of eight teams — will advance to the knockout single-elimination rounds of the NBA Cup.
Despite the recently added wrinkle of the in-season tourney, every team continues to play 82 regular-season games. That’s because every game in the NBA’s in-season tournament will count toward regular-season stats and standings, except the championship game.
The 22 teams not advancing to the quarterfinals will play two regular-season games on Dec. 6, 7 or 10 to fill the missing two games in their standard 82-game schedules.
The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on Dec. 6, 7 or 10 to fill the missing game in their 82-game schedules.
For the four teams that win in the quarterfinals, their 82nd game will come in the semifinals.
And the two teams that advance to the championship game will play an extra game (83rd game) for the in-season tournament title that won’t count toward the regular season.
The quarterfinals will be played in NBA team markets on Dec. 4 and 5. These games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in group play games from each conference, and the team with the best record in group play from each conference will host the wild card team in their respective conference.
The semifinals will be played in NBA team markets on Dec. 8 and/or Dec. 9. The semifinal games will be hosted by the higher seed in each conference.
The championship game of the NBA Cup will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11.
Since two games for each team will remain up in the air until the group stage of the in-season tournament plays out, only 80 of the 82 regular-season games for each team will be announced on Thursday.
What’s at stake in the in-season tournament? The NBA Cup trophy and bonus money for the quarterfinalists, semifinalists, runner-up and champion.
Every in-season tournament game in the knockout rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals and championship rounds) will be streamed exclusively on Prime.
The winners of the NBA’s first three in-season tournaments were the Los Angeles Lakers in 2023, Milwaukee Bucks in 2024 and Knicks in 2025.
The Heat is scheduled to hold its annual media day on Sept. 28 at Kaseya Center before opening training camp on Sept. 29.
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Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.