NEW YORK (AP) — Every NBA team will have at least two national TV games this season, the league confirmed Thursday as part of its full schedule unveiling for 2025-26.
The reason: There simply are more national games than ever, now that the league’s new 11-year, $76 billion agreements with ABC-ESPN, NBC-Peacock and Amazon Prime Video are about to formally begin.
There will be 247 games scheduled on those networks this season, up from 172 last season between ABC, ESPN and TNT.
Other notes from this season’s schedule release:
The NBA, which did not play on Election Day in 2022, 2023 or 2024, will have games on that date this season. It falls on Nov. 4.
The NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder play the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the six-game slate on that date.
There is one special election to fill a congressional seat on that date this year, along with two gubernatorial races and numerous state and local races. The NBA still plans to not have games on Election Days during midterm and Presidential election years, which would mean no games on those dates in 2026 or 2028.
There will be games this season on April 6, the day of the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game in Indianapolis.
Atlanta, Orlando, Memphis, San Antonio and Denver all host games on that date. The Knicks at Atlanta is the Peacock game.
There were two games on NCAA title day last season, breaking the unofficial tradition of the league not playing on that night.
The final day of the regular season is April 12, and all 30 teams will be playing. But the league is rolling back the start times; all games were at either 1 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. Eastern last season, and it’ll be either 6 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. this season.
One advantage to that: All games will end, and some will be played in their entirety, after the final putt drops in the final round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club that same day. The Masters typically ends around 7 p.m. Eastern.
All 30 teams also will play on Friday, April 10. There are no games on Saturday, April 11. The play-in tournament begins on April 14.
The league tried again this season to minimize back-to-backs (the average is just under 15 of those per team) in an effort to keep teams as rested as possible.
That rule also will apply to marquee games. No team will play the day before having games during opening week, the NBA Cup tournament, Christmas Day (nobody plays on Dec. 24), the four games on Peacock or NBC on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the 10-game ABC Saturday schedule, the eight-game ABC Sunday schedule or the 11-game NBC Sunday schedule.
As usual, all teams will play 82 regular-season games. The schedules released this week only list 80, since the two remaining slots will be filled depending on how teams fare in round-robin play during the NBA Cup.
The NBA Cup championship game in Las Vegas will once again not count in the schedule for those teams, since it technically would push their season total to 83 games.
Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers will face his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, four times this season.
The games at Dallas are Jan. 24 (on ABC) and April 5 (on NBC/Peacock). The games in Los Angeles are Nov. 28 (on Prime) and Feb. 12 (on Prime).
Oklahoma City and Indiana won’t wait long for a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals. The Thunder go to Indianapolis on Oct. 23.
The Pacers go back to Oklahoma City on Jan. 23.
For the most part, the NBA’s 2025-26 national telecast schedule generally will feature Mondays on Peacock, Tuesdays on NBC, Wednesdays on ESPN, Thursdays on Prime Video, Fridays on Prime Video and ESPN, Saturdays on Prime Video in the afternoon and ABC at night, and Sundays on ABC in the afternoon and NBC at night.
The league also is unveiling a new digital feature to make watching live games easier, as fans get used to new homes for games. The feature will direct fans to where they can find national telecasts or streams.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
FILE - Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) reacts after a foul called on the Lakers during the first half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's Supreme Court on Friday upheld the incitement conviction of a prominent opposition politician while suspending the remainder of his sentence, keeping him out of prison but unable to practice politics for years and renewing questions about the government's efforts to quash criticism.
The decision against Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party, was met with anger by some 300 supporters from around the country who had gathered outside the Supreme Court complex in Phnom Penh.
“Even though he is not in prison, I'm saddened that his freedom has been restricted and he has become a sub-citizen, meaning he has no right to vote or participate in politics,” said Nek Ratha, a 55-year-old from the capital.
“The verdict is hard for us to accept because he is not free, and he has done nothing wrong.”
The 56-year-old had been found guilty last year of inciting social unrest after meeting with villagers displaced by government construction projects, in what was widely seen as one of many legal moves taken by the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet to stifle criticism.
Rong Chhun told his supporters the verdict was “completely unfair” and accused the court of following orders of the government rather than the rule of law.
“If the powerful leader wants black, the court will paint it black for them,” he said. “And if the powerful wants white, the court will paint it white for them.”
Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the ruling demonstrates Cambodia's courts “lack of independence from the ruling party.”
"Hun Manet’s government should stop using the courts to silence the political opposition and instead reopen space for parties and civil society groups to operate freely ahead of next year’s election,” she said.
Cambodia’s Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra told The Associated Press that it was “not appropriate to characterize a judicial decision as an executive decision.”
“The Royal Government respects the separation of powers, the independence of the courts, and the rule of law,” he said in a written response to a query. “Any party who disagrees with a court ruling should address the matter through the legal remedies available under Cambodian law, rather than through political assumptions.”
Under almost four decades of autocratic former Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia was widely criticized for human rights abuses that included suppression of freedom of speech and association. He was succeeded in August 2023 by his American-educated son, Hun Manet, but there have been few signs of political liberalization.
Sophal Ear, a Cambodian political scientist in the U.S., called the decision against Rong Chhun “evidence of continuity rather than change under the transition from Hun Sen to Hun Manet.”
“A high-profile case like this inevitably becomes a test of how much political space exists under the current leadership and whether the transition has produced any meaningful changes in governance,” he said. “Many people will conclude that the leadership transition has so far produced more continuity than reform.”
Under the decision, Rong Chhun will be prohibited from any involvement in politics for five years, including voting or standing as a candidate, and will be banned from traveling abroad for three years, the remainder of his original four-year sentence, his attorney Em Chantha told reporters. He had also been free while his appeal was pending.
Supreme Court decisions are final, but Rong Chhun said he and his attorney would study the verdict in detail to decide whether there would be a chance to ask Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni for a pardon.
Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press reporter Anton L. Delgado contributed to this report from Bangkok.
Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party and a prominent opposition politician, speaks to supporters outside Cambodia's Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sopheng Cheang)
Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party and a prominent opposition politician, stands with supporters outside Cambodia's Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sopheng Cheang)
Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party and a prominent opposition politician, reacts to supporters outside Cambodia's Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sopheng Cheang)
Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party and a prominent opposition politician, stands with supporters outside Cambodia's Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sopheng Cheang)
Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party and a prominent opposition politician, stands with supporters outside Cambodia's Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sopheng Cheang)
Rong Chhun, a prominent Cambodian opposition politician, right, leaves his Supreme Court hearing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Supporters greet Rong Chhun, a prominent Cambodian opposition politician, center, as he arrives at his hearing at the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
