NBA schedule 2025-26: Breaking it down by the numbers, including most back-to-backs
Now let's dive into the details of the schedule and talk about who has the advantage and disadvantage in back-to-backs, nationally televised games and more — including the most bobblehead nights.
Which teams have the most nationally televised games?
Four teams are maxed out at 34 games on national television:
• Lakers• Warriors• Knicks• Thunder
The Timberwolves and Rockets follow those four with 28 each. Rounding out the top 10 are the Nuggets (26), Celtics (25), Cavaliers (24) and Mavericks (23).
Every team has at least two nationally televised games.
With the addition of Peacock NBA Mondays and many NBA Cup games being broadcast on Amazon Prime exclusively, the number of national broadcast games jumped this season to 244, up from 172 a season ago. Once the NFL season nears its end, the NBA will ramp up with nationally televised games nightly.
If you remove the games exclusively on streaming platforms from the national broadcast game list, only counting the games on NBC, ABC and ESPN, the teams with the most games are: Knicks (21), Lakers (20), Thunder (20), Warriors (19) and Nuggets (18). Worth noting that both the Rockets and Timberwolves will have 17 of those games. It's also worth noting that all those games on over-the-air broadcasts also will be available on streaming services such as Peacock for the NBC games as well.
Which teams have the most back-to-backs?
Every team has between 13 and 16 back-to-backs, with the average being 14.4 (down slightly from 14.9 a season ago). The five teams with the most (16) are:
• Hornets• Nuggets• 76ers• Suns• Wizards
Just as interesting is the number of times a team faces an opponent on a back-to-back. At the top of the list, the 76ers face 18 teams on the second night of a back-to-back, while the Nuggets are at the low end of that scale with 12.
Utah, Philadelphia, and Sacramento each have 14 rest advantage games, tied for the most in the league, according to Positive Residual.
There are no four games in five nights in the schedule.
Other schedule notes
• Getting rest before big games. The NBA noted that teams do not play the day before these games:
*All opening-week national TV games*All Emirates NBA Cup games*All Christmas Day games*The four-game Peacock/NBC schedule on Martin Luther King Jr. Day*The 10-game ABC Saturday schedule and eight-game ABC Sunday schedule*The 11-game NBC Sunday schedule
• Pelicans have toughest NBA schedule. Remember when the Pelicans traded their 2026 first-round pick to Atlanta so they could move up and draft Derik Queen in this year's draft? Keep that in mind as you check out Positive Residual's projections for the most difficult schedule in the NBA this season:
Note that an older team in the Warriors is fourth on that list, with the Mavericks fifth.
• Impact of Clippers' new arena. Interesting note from The Athletic's Law Murray:
• Clippers lead the league in bobblehead nights. Clippers fans love bobbleheads?
Kris Dunn is a nice player, but is he bobblehead worthy?
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