{"id":408940,"date":"2026-01-15T14:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/408940\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:49:08","slug":"nba-mlk-day-games-2026-preview-schedule-and-how-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/408940\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA MLK Day Games 2026 preview, schedule and how to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Beyond the game, Dr. King\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n<p>MLK Day remains one of the NBA\u2019s most meaningful regular-season showcases, using the game as a platform to honor the life, leadership, and lasting impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Activism has long been seen from some of the NBA\u2019s all-time great Hall of Fame players, including Bill Russell, who was invited by Dr. King to sit front row at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to witness the famous \u201cI Have A Dream\u201d speech. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was, and continues to be, widely recognized for being outspoken against racial injustice and a well-known associate of Dr. King.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Monday\u2019s celebration of Dr. King\u2019s legacy as a civil rights activist, philanthropist, and human rights leader, several NBA players described King\u2019s legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Among them was Olympic gold medalist and Clippers guard James Harden, who said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/watch\/video\/mlk-day-2025-reflections-on-dr-king?plsrc=nba&amp;collection=mlk-day-2026\" data-tracking-payload=\"{&quot;implementation_provider&quot;:&quot;sed&quot;,&quot;content_geography&quot;:&quot;AF,AX,AL,DZ,AS,AD,AO,AI,AQ,AG,AR,AM,AW,AU,AT,AZ,BS,BH,BD,BB,BY,BE,BZ,BJ,BM,BT,BO,BQ,BA,BW,BV,BR,IO,UM,VG,VI,BN,BG,BF,BI,KH,CM,CA,CV,KY,CF,TD,CL,CN,CX,CC,CO,KM,CG,CD,CK,CR,HR,CU,CW,CY,CZ,DK,DJ,DM,DO,EC,EG,SV,GQ,ER,EE,ET,FK,FO,FJ,FI,FR,GF,PF,TF,GA,GM,GE,DE,GH,GI,GR,GL,GD,GP,GU,GT,GG,GN,GW,GY,HT,HM,VA,HN,HK,HU,IS,IN,ID,CI,IR,IQ,IE,IM,IL,IT,JM,JP,JE,JO,KZ,KE,KI,KW,KG,LA,LV,LB,LS,LR,LY,LI,LT,LU,MO,MK,MG,MW,MY,MV,ML,MT,MH,MQ,MR,MU,YT,MX,FM,MD,MC,MN,ME,MS,MA,MZ,MM,NA,NR,NP,NL,NC,NZ,NI,NE,NG,NU,NF,KP,MP,NO,OM,PK,PW,PS,PA,PG,PY,PE,PH,PN,PL,PT,PR,QA,RE,RO,RU,RW,BL,SH,KN,LC,MF,PM,VC,WS,SM,ST,SA,SN,RS,SC,SL,SG,SX,SK,SI,SB,SO,ZA,GS,KR,SS,ES,LK,SD,SR,SJ,SZ,SE,CH,SY,TW,TJ,TZ,TH,TL,TG,TK,TO,TT,TN,TR,TM,TC,TV,UG,UA,AE,GB,US,UY,UZ,VU,VE,VN,WF,EH,YE,ZM,ZW,XK&quot;,&quot;content_id&quot;:&quot;0e02d306-5d11-4333-a336-dd16a498f499&quot;,&quot;content_release_date_local_utc&quot;:&quot;2026-01-15T13:53:35.792Z&quot;,&quot;content_title&quot;:&quot;Basketball: NBA MLK Day Games 2026 preview, schedule and how to watch&quot;,&quot;tag&quot;:&quot;[\\&quot;discipline-basketball\\&quot;,\\&quot;newsclip\\&quot;,\\&quot;apple-news-all\\&quot;,\\&quot;victor-wembanyama\\&quot;,\\&quot;stephen-curry\\&quot;,\\&quot;james-harden\\&quot;,\\&quot;shai-gilgeous-alexander\\&quot;,\\&quot;noc-us\\&quot;,\\&quot;north-america-editorial\\&quot;]&quot;,&quot;module_type&quot;:&quot;TextBlock&quot;,&quot;module_title&quot;:&quot;Basketball: NBA MLK Day Games 2026 preview, schedule and how to watch&quot;,&quot;section_level_1&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;section_level_2&quot;:&quot;basketball-nba-mlk-day-2026-preview-schedule-watch&quot;,&quot;discipline&quot;:&quot;discipline-basketball&quot;,&quot;odf_id&quot;:&quot;BKB&quot;,&quot;module_instance&quot;:&quot;Inline&quot;,&quot;module_id&quot;:null}\" data-tracking=\"click\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">video on NBA.com<\/a>, \u201cDr. King is legendary. He paved the way and made it easier for us to live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harden, who recently moved up to No. 9 on the NBA\u2019s all-time scoring list, will play in the 3 p.m. EST game against the Washington Wizards on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a day when the league amplifies voices, stories, and initiatives that reflect Dr. King\u2019s call for justice and service,\u201d he stated on <a href=\"http:\/\/nba.com\" data-tracking-payload=\"{&quot;implementation_provider&quot;:&quot;sed&quot;,&quot;content_geography&quot;:&quot;AF,AX,AL,DZ,AS,AD,AO,AI,AQ,AG,AR,AM,AW,AU,AT,AZ,BS,BH,BD,BB,BY,BE,BZ,BJ,BM,BT,BO,BQ,BA,BW,BV,BR,IO,UM,VG,VI,BN,BG,BF,BI,KH,CM,CA,CV,KY,CF,TD,CL,CN,CX,CC,CO,KM,CG,CD,CK,CR,HR,CU,CW,CY,CZ,DK,DJ,DM,DO,EC,EG,SV,GQ,ER,EE,ET,FK,FO,FJ,FI,FR,GF,PF,TF,GA,GM,GE,DE,GH,GI,GR,GL,GD,GP,GU,GT,GG,GN,GW,GY,HT,HM,VA,HN,HK,HU,IS,IN,ID,CI,IR,IQ,IE,IM,IL,IT,JM,JP,JE,JO,KZ,KE,KI,KW,KG,LA,LV,LB,LS,LR,LY,LI,LT,LU,MO,MK,MG,MW,MY,MV,ML,MT,MH,MQ,MR,MU,YT,MX,FM,MD,MC,MN,ME,MS,MA,MZ,MM,NA,NR,NP,NL,NC,NZ,NI,NE,NG,NU,NF,KP,MP,NO,OM,PK,PW,PS,PA,PG,PY,PE,PH,PN,PL,PT,PR,QA,RE,RO,RU,RW,BL,SH,KN,LC,MF,PM,VC,WS,SM,ST,SA,SN,RS,SC,SL,SG,SX,SK,SI,SB,SO,ZA,GS,KR,SS,ES,LK,SD,SR,SJ,SZ,SE,CH,SY,TW,TJ,TZ,TH,TL,TG,TK,TO,TT,TN,TR,TM,TC,TV,UG,UA,AE,GB,US,UY,UZ,VU,VE,VN,WF,EH,YE,ZM,ZW,XK&quot;,&quot;content_id&quot;:&quot;0e02d306-5d11-4333-a336-dd16a498f499&quot;,&quot;content_release_date_local_utc&quot;:&quot;2026-01-15T13:53:35.792Z&quot;,&quot;content_title&quot;:&quot;Basketball: NBA MLK Day Games 2026 preview, schedule and how to watch&quot;,&quot;tag&quot;:&quot;[\\&quot;discipline-basketball\\&quot;,\\&quot;newsclip\\&quot;,\\&quot;apple-news-all\\&quot;,\\&quot;victor-wembanyama\\&quot;,\\&quot;stephen-curry\\&quot;,\\&quot;james-harden\\&quot;,\\&quot;shai-gilgeous-alexander\\&quot;,\\&quot;noc-us\\&quot;,\\&quot;north-america-editorial\\&quot;]&quot;,&quot;module_type&quot;:&quot;TextBlock&quot;,&quot;module_title&quot;:&quot;Basketball: NBA MLK Day Games 2026 preview, schedule and how to watch&quot;,&quot;section_level_1&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;section_level_2&quot;:&quot;basketball-nba-mlk-day-2026-preview-schedule-watch&quot;,&quot;discipline&quot;:&quot;discipline-basketball&quot;,&quot;odf_id&quot;:&quot;BKB&quot;,&quot;module_instance&quot;:&quot;Inline&quot;,&quot;module_id&quot;:null}\" data-tracking=\"click\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beyond the game, Dr. King\u2019s legacy MLK Day remains one of the NBA\u2019s most meaningful regular-season showcases, using&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-408940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}