The leaks were all true. The NBA officially announced its opening night and Christmas Day matchups Tuesday, and they won’t come as a surprise to those who have been paying attention.<\/p>\n
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder will kick off the 2025-26 NBA season on opening night in a matchup against Kevin Durant’s Houston Rockets on Oct. 21. That game will take place at 7:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n
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Later that night, the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors will square off to open their seasons.<\/p>\n
In addition to the notable matchups and players involved in the opening-night festivities, history will also be made once the Lakers get underway. Once LeBron James takes the court, he’ll pass Vince Carter for the most seasons played<\/a> in NBA history. James, 40, is set to start his 23rd NBA season.<\/p>\n All four of those teams will also play on Christmas Day, which features a full, five-game slate<\/a>. Here’s the complete league schedule for Dec. 25:<\/p>\n Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks at 12 p.m. ET<\/p>\n San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder at 2:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n Dallas Mavericks vs. Golden State Warriors at 5:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers at 8:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets at 10:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n NBA fans paying close attention to the news shouldn’t be surprised by those matchups, which were leaked<\/a> by ESPN’s Shams Charania on Friday. In addition to those games, however, the NBA also revealed a four-game slate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and confirmed a few more marquee early-season matchups.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n On Thursday, the league unveiled the entire 2025-26 NBA schedule<\/a>, with links for every single team’s schedule <\/a>and every single date<\/a> during the year.<\/p>\n Prior to Thursday, the league slowly rolled out opening night games, Christmas games and a few other marquee games during the 2025-26 NBA season.<\/p>\n Martin Luther King Jr. Day gets four-game slate<\/p>\n The NBA has scheduled games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day since it became a holiday in 1986. The Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks will kick off a four-game slate on MLK Day this season. The contest will start at 1 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n They will be followed by the Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers at 2:30 p.m. ET, the Mavericks and Knicks at 5 p.m. ET and the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons at 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n NBA confirms early marquee matchups, Cooper Flagg’s first game<\/p>\n Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg will kick off his NBA career with a historic matchup. His first game will come against the San Antonio Spurs, which held the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n