The NBA won’t officially reveal the full regular schedule until Thursday for the 2025-26 season, but the league provided a sneak peek of some major games on the calendar Tuesday. The Celtics will not be featured on opening night or on Christmas Day this season while Jayson Tatum recovers from a torn Achilles, but Boston will face off against the Pistons in a nationally televised showdown on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, January 19).
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73516691/2147744412.0.jpg)
The Celtics will be the final matchup of a quadruple header shown on NBC Sports in January, taking on the Pistons in Detroit at 8 p.m. ET. The matchup will be shown on NBC and Peacock after tilts with the Bucks-Hawks, Thunder-Cavaliers and Knicks-Mavericks.
It will be the first season that the NBA is back on NBC since 2002, as the network will show up to 100 regular season games including five games each week during certain parts of the year on both NBC and Peacock. Color analysts for the network will include regular Celtics color commentator Brian Scalabrine.
Other games announced by the NBA on Tuesday include an opening night doubleheader on Tuesday, Oct. 21, between the Thunder and Rockets, along with the Warriors visiting the Lakers in the first two NBC broadcasts of NBA games in 23 years. A pair of Eastern Conference contenders will also kick off their season on Oct. 22 on ESPN with the Cavs and Knicks facing off at Madison Square Garden. Boston is also expected to open their season on Wednesday, Oct. 22. The team’s full schedule will be announced on Thursday afternoon.
