NBA releases 2025-26 schedule, all teams getting at least two national TV games

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NBA releases 2025-26 schedule, all teams getting at least two national TV games

2025-08-15 03:42 Last Updated At：04:01

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

Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to end protests in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke an 1807 law and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.

The threat comes a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law, to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump said in social media post.

Presidents have invoked the law more than two dozen times, most recently in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to end unrest in Los Angeles. In that instance, local authorities had asked for the assistance.

“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said on X.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he would challenge any such action in court. He's already suing to try to stop the surge by the Department of Homeland Security, which says officers have arrested more than 2,500 people since Nov. 29 as part of an immigration operation in the Twin Cities called Metro Surge.

The operation grew when ICE sent 2,000 officers and agents to the area early in January. ICE is a DHS agency.

In Minneapolis, smoke filled the streets Wednesday night near the site of the latest shooting as federal officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd. Protesters responded by throwing rocks and shooting fireworks.

Demonstrations have become common in Minneapolis since Good was fatally shot on Jan. 7. Agents who have yanked people from their cars and homes have been confronted by angry bystanders demanding they leave.

“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of three people who said they were questioned or detained in recent days. The lawsuit says two are Somali and one is Hispanic; all three are U.S. citizens. The lawsuit seeks an end to what the ACLU describes as a practice of racial profiling and warrantless arrests. The government did not immediately comment.

Homeland Security said in a statement that federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday stopped a driver from Venezuela who is in the U.S. illegally. The person drove off then crashed into a parked car before fleeing on foot, DHS said.

Officers caught up, then two other people arrived and the three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.

“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said. The confrontation took place about 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) from where Good was killed.

Police chief Brian O’Hara said the man who was shot did not have a life-threatening injury. O’Hara's account of what happened largely echoed that of Homeland Security, which later said the other two men were also in the U.S. illegally from Venezuela.

The FBI said several government vehicles were damaged and property inside was stolen when agents responded to the shooting. Photos show broken windows and insults made with paint. A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information. The FBI’s Minneapolis office did not immediately reply to messages seeking more details.

St. Paul Public Schools, with more than 30,000 students, said it would begin offering an online learning option for students who do not feel comfortable coming to school. Schools will be closed next week until Thursday to prepare for those accommodations.

Minneapolis Public Schools, which has a similar enrollment, is also offering temporary remote learning. The University of Minnesota will start a new term next week with different options depending on the class.

Madhani reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press reporters Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Rebecca Santana in Washington; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.