Every important date you need to know for the 2025-26 NBA season

The 2025-26 NBA season is set to begin on Sept. 23 as training camp opens with NBA opening night on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

Here's a guide to all the big, key dates for the NBA this season and what they mean for you, the fan, this season.

Media Days for teams traveling outside North America (Nets, Knicks, Sixers – Sept 26; Pelicans, Suns – Sept 24)

If you're headed overseas for preseason, you get to get a head start on media day and training camp. The Knicks and Sixers face off in Abu Dhabi to begin preseason play, the Nets and Suns will play in Macao, China for the first time since 2019, signaling a repair of the league's relationship with China, and the Nets will take on several NBL teams in Australia.

While starting training camp early might sound appealing, players have often said that the travel and media time these trips require detract from practice and bonding time, setting them a little behind the curve. Something to keep in mind when looking at your team's early-season outlook.

First allowable date for all other veterans to report, Media Days and training camp opens for all other teams, Sept. 29, 2025

This is always amusing. According to the CBA, teams are not allowed to require a player to report before training camp begins. So technically, no player is supposed to work out with their team or coaches before this date. Yet, most players are already back in their respective towns and have been having open runs with their coaches in the building since the start of September.

This is a heavy media day with all sorts of quotes and news, sometimes unexpected, about injuries, rotations, and expectations for the season.

Rosters set for NBA Opening Day (5 p.m. ET), Oct. 20, 2025

It's always strange to see that the day for rosters to set is just over 24 hours from the first game of the season. Typically, teams know their 15, but occasionally there are late surprises in cuts and lock-ups that can open up players other teams need.

NBA Regular Season begins (Opening Night), Oct. 21, 2025

Kevin Durant returns to Oklahoma City to watch them finally raise the banner he and Russell Westbrook couldn't win there, and the Rockets try to stamp themselves as real contenders with a chance to upset the champs on banner night. Drama!

In the late game, in case you haven't seen LeBron vs. Steph in any of the other 1,435,254 times the league has put this matchup on national television, here's your cup of comforting former-rivals-now-modern-buddies tea. Is this the first game of the last season of LeBron's career? Are the Warriors legit contenders? Is Luka still in shape after a month off? So many questions!

Emirates NBA Cup Group Play tips off, Oct. 31, 2025

If Amazon doesn't tie Halloween into their marketing efforts for the Cup Games, I'll be very disappointed.

Loud courts! Different jerseys! Varying levels of intensity! It's the NBA Cup on Prime!

Emirates NBA Cup Group Play concludes, Nov. 28, 2025

The last week of the tournament is often the most interesting because players don't pay attention to the Cup standings until the last week when they find out if they can win the money or not. This is a great week of play in the Cup games.

Emirates NBA Cup Championship (Las Vegas), Dec. 16, 2025

The Thunder were so close to winning the Cup and the Chip both last season. It was also the highest point of the Dame era in Milwaukee, which is kind of sad. The East games might be better than the West this year with the amount of parity among the non-Cleveland, non-Knicks teams.

NBA Christmas Day games, Dec. 25, 2025

Cavs-Knicks, Spurs-Thunder, Mavericks-Warriors, Rockets-Lakers, Wolves-Nuggets.

Pretty great lineup. What's the most interesting? Rockets-Lakers has the potential for fireworks with KD vs. LeBron and Luka vs. that defense.

Cooper Flagg vs. Jimmy Butler might sneakily be one of the most interesting matchups that will actually try to guard one another. Cavs-Knicks and Wolves-Nuggets could very likely have tiebreaker implications in April.

10-day contracts may now be signed, Jan. 5, 2026

It's easy to skip over this date, but this is sneaky important. If you can find a meaningful contributor on a 10-day that you can convert to a full contract, it improves your depth. You need to find guys on the margins to last the season and in case of emergency in the playoffs. Saving minutes and miles is big in today's NBA.

All contracts are guaranteed, Jan. 10, 2026

If a player's contract is not fully guaranteed for the season, this is the date by which teams must trade them to avoid the cap or tax implications.

So while the deadline is the bigger, splashier date, don't let this date slip by.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 19, 2026

An important day that's not been hyped as much as possible in the last few seasons. NBC, however, has the slate on NBC and Peacock with four major matchups, including Cavaliers vs. Thunder. Here's to hoping NBC is able to make these games feel like the big deal they should.

NBA Trade Deadline, Feb. 5, 2026

The new CBA has taken a lot of the luster out of this day as most teams shy away from doing in-season business and opt for July to reconfigure their rosters, but there's always the chance for fireworks.

Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Trae Young, and of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo will be names everyone will be keeping an eye on.

NBA All-Star Weekend (Los Angeles, CA), Feb. 13-15, 2026

This is supposed to be at the Intuit Dome, home of the Clippers.

Awk-ward.

If the league concludes its investigation into the Kawhi Leonard scandal (which they reportedly will not), do they move this event to Staples if the Clippers are found liable? If not, how many questions will Clippers officials and Leonard face about this in the lead-up? How much of a shadow does it cast?

Meanwhile, it's Team USA vs. the World for the All-Star Game, as Adam Silver desperately tries to get players who are all on pace to be billionaires to care about an exhibition. We'll see how it goes, maybe it will surprise and be fun! Can't be worse!

Playoff eligibility waiver deadline, March 1, 2026

This is always a frustrating day because so many players who have shown they can contribute don't get picked up and have to sit out the playoffs after the post-deadline buyouts. But if you want your team to make sure a fringe player is around, this is the day to look out for.

Regular Season ends, April 12, 2026

All the East games early, all the West games late, and usually multiple playoff spots up for grabs. One of the most fun days of the season.

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