The road to the 2026 NBA Finals for OKC is coming into focus, with the league officially releasing its championship schedule and key second-round scenarios beginning to fall into place.<\/p>\n
\n Thunder second-round schedule scenarios<\/p>\n
The Oklahoma City Thunder are set to host Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals, but the exact start date depends on how the first-round series between Los Angeles and Houston concludes, along with outcomes in the Eastern Conference. <\/p>\n
Game 6 between the Rockets and Lakers tips off tonight at 8:30 p.m. CT and will stream on Prime Video, with the series outcome helping determine when the Thunder open the second round<\/p>\n
\n Scenario 1<\/p>\n
If the Lakers-Rockets series ends in six games and either Pistons-Magic or Cavaliers-Raptors also ends in six games:<\/p>\n
Game 1: Sunday, May 3 (at OKC)Game 2: Tuesday, May 5 (at OKC)Game 3: Saturday, May 9 (on the road)Game 4: Monday, May 11 (on the road)Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 13 (at OKC)Game 6 (if necessary): Saturday, May 16 (on the road)Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, May 18 (at OKC)<\/p>\n
\n Scenario 2<\/p>\n
If the Lakers-Rockets series goes seven games or if multiple series extend deeper:<\/p>\n
Game 1: Tuesday, May 5 (at OKC)Game 2: Thursday, May 7 (at OKC)Game 3: Saturday, May 9 (on the road)Game 4: Monday, May 11 (on the road)Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 13 (at OKC)Game 6 (if necessary): Saturday, May 16 (on the road)Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, May 18 (at OKC)<\/p>\n
Tipoff times and broadcast details for the second round have not yet been announced.<\/p>\n
\n Opposite side of the bracket<\/p>\n
On the other side of the Western Conference bracket, San Antonio\u2019s path is already set following Denver\u2019s elimination.<\/p>\n
The Spurs will face Minnesota in a series that opens in San Antonio:<\/p>\n
Game 1: Monday, May 4 (in San Antonio)Game 2: Wednesday, May 6 (in San Antonio)Game 3: Friday, May 8 (in Minneapolis)Game 4: Sunday, May 10 (in Minneapolis)Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, May 12 (in San Antonio)Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, May 15 (in Minneapolis)Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 17 (in San Antonio)<\/p>\n
\n What\u2019s next for OKC<\/p>\n
The Thunder will open the second round at home against the winner of the Los Angeles-Houston series. Los Angeles currently holds a 3-2 lead, with Game 6 set to determine whether the series ends or forces a decisive Game 7.<\/p>\n
Until that result is finalized, Oklahoma City\u2019s exact Game 1 date remains either May 3 or May 5, but regardless of the scenario, the Thunder will have home-court advantage as they continue their push toward the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
\n 2026 NBA Finals schedule<\/p>\n
The NBA Finals will follow a traditional 2-2-1-1-1 format, with all games airing on ABC:<\/p>\n
Game 1: Wednesday, June 3 (7:30 p.m. CT)Game 2: Friday, June 5 (7:30 p.m. CT)Game 3: Monday, June 8 (7:30 p.m. CT)Game 4: Wednesday, June 10 (7:30 p.m. CT)Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, June 13 (7:30 p.m. CT)Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 16 (7:30 p.m. CT)Game 7 (if necessary): Friday, June 19 (7:30 p.m. CT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The road to the 2026 NBA Finals for OKC is coming into focus, with the league officially releasing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-617475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617475","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=617475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}