The NBA schedule is out for the 2025-26 season, and in a shocking twist, all teams will play 82 games, with 3-4 matchups against opponents from their conference, and two games against teams from the opposite conference.
Just kidding, that’s how the NBA schedule works every year. The only real intrigue in the schedule announcement is seeing the number of national TV games your team gets, how many back-to-backs they’re saddled with, and when the long road trips fall. The league leaked parts of the schedule drip-by-drip, and now you can find the full 80-game slate for every team in the league (with two more games announced after the NBA Cup results).
It’s setting up to be an awesome NBA season. The league has seen seven unique champions in the last seven years, the longest stretch in history. Will the Oklahoma City Thunder win it all again to start a potential dynasty, or will the NBA’s parity streak continue? There are so exciting storylines heading into the season. For now, here are five schedule quirks that jumped out of us after the 2025-26 slate was released.
The Nuggets and Warriors got screwed on back-to-backs
There are five teams with a league-high 16 back-t0-backs this season, but not all back-to-backs are created equal. Owen Phillips of the excellent F5 newsletter highlighted how rest advantage breaks down, ie how many times a team is a on a back-to-back vs. how many times their opponent enters on a back-to-back. Under this light, the Philadelphia 76ers’ 16 back-t0-backs don’t seem as daunting, because they’re actually facing opponents on a back-to-back 18 times. The biggest loser here is the Nuggets, who will be on a back-to-back 16 times this season while facing opponents on a back-to-back only 12 times. The Warriors are -3 in this department too, which is scary for such an old team. The Mavs and Bucks have four major rest advantage games this season, most in the league. Adjust your predictions accordingly.
The NBA’s 7 least relevant teams, according to the national TV schedule
The Lakers, Thunder, Knicks, and Warriors are tied for the most national TV games this season with 34 each. I’m more interested in the teams the league doesn’t want you to see. The NBA has finally moved off showcasing Zion Williamson and LaMelo Ball after years of injury trouble for both young stars. The Raptors have a huge and passionate fanbase, but no one wants to see a team that plays inside a shoebox every night because they have no shooting. The Bulls only getting three national TV games is just pathetic: Chicago is the largest market in the league that only has one franchise, the Bulls lead the league in attendance basically every year, and the team is so irrelevant that the NBA is keeping them hidden. Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf need to sell this team to owners who actually care about the product yesterday.
The Clippers lead the league in bobblehead nights
Listen, I love Kris Dunn as much as the next basketball nerd, and I wrote a feature on him from the 2016 NBA Draft Combine to prove it. Does Kris Dunn really need his own bobblehead night? I don’t think so, but when you have the richest owner in the league, he can do fun stuff like this for fans. Six bobblehead nights in one season is just wild, but I love it.
The Pelicans have the hardest schedule in the league and no first-round pick
Welp. The Pelicans made the most reckless trade of the offseason by dealing their unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for the right to draft Derik Queen at the end of the lottery. Queen is already out for months with a torn wrist ligament, and the schedule release won’t make Pelicans fans feel any better. New Orleans has the hardest schedule in the league according to Positive Residual, which takes into account the over/under win total line of every team on the schedule and bakes in rest advantages. The Pelicans knew life wouldn’t be easy in the Western Conference this year, because it never is, but this is particularly discouraging. I really think the Pelicans could be giving up a top-three pick in a loaded 2026 draft to the Hawks.
The Celtics have way too many national TV games
One issue the NBA has had in recent years is showcasing teams with injured stars on national TV. You can’t predict injuries, but with the Celtics, you absolutely can. Jayson Tatum is out for the year rehabbing a torn Achilles, and yet Boston still gets 25 national TV games. This is absurd. I know the Celtics have a huge fanbase, but this team has every incentive to tank late in the season if things aren’t going well before they reset things around Tatum when he returns a year from now. These games should be split up between the Spurs, Magic, and Pistons, none of whom make the top-10 in national TV games.
