NBA Preseason TV Schedule 2026: Every National TV Game, Times & Channels
Last updated: October 5, 2026. Tip times are Eastern and come from the ESPN preseason announcement of September 2026, cross-checked against the league announcement reported the same week.
Quick Answer
The 2026 NBA preseason runs October 3 to 16, and only six games are on national TV: Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers on Thu Oct 8 (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2), San Antonio Spurs at Phoenix Suns on Sat Oct 10 (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2), Orlando Magic at Cleveland Cavaliers on Sun Oct 11 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), Chicago Bulls at Denver Nuggets later that Sunday (9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN), Cleveland Cavaliers at Orlando Magic on Tue Oct 13 (7:00 p.m. ET, Peacock), and Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers on Fri Oct 16 (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Every other preseason game airs on local team broadcasts or NBA League Pass.
Table of Contents
The six national TV games
Most of preseason stays local. The national window is a short, deliberate slate built around big arenas and star storylines, and it does not start until the second week. The opener of the whole preseason, Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors in Quebec City on October 3, aired on NBA TV and is already played, so the table below is only what is still ahead.
| Date | Tip (ET) | Game | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 8 | 10:30 p.m. | Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers | ESPN2 |
| Sat, Oct 10 | 10:30 p.m. | San Antonio Spurs at Phoenix Suns | ESPN2 |
| Sun, Oct 11 | 6:30 p.m. | Orlando Magic at Cleveland Cavaliers | ESPN |
| Sun, Oct 11 | 9:00 p.m. | Chicago Bulls at Denver Nuggets | ESPN |
| Tue, Oct 13 | 7:00 p.m. | Cleveland Cavaliers at Orlando Magic | Peacock |
| Fri, Oct 16 | 10:30 p.m. | Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers | ESPN |
One detail catches people out every year: that Bulls at Nuggets game on October 11 starts at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, not in the morning. One secondary table printed it as a morning tip, but ESPN lists it as the second half of its Sunday night doubleheader, right after Magic at Cavaliers. All five ESPN and ESPN2 games also stream on the ESPN App, so you do not need a cable box to watch any of them.
How to watch the rest of preseason
Outside those six games, preseason belongs to local television. Each team carries its own exhibitions on the same regional channel or local station that airs its regular season games, so the channel you already use in winter is the channel you use in October. If your team is out of market, NBA League Pass carries the local feeds through the preseason, which is why the service matters more in October than its regular season blackouts suggest.
While a game is on, the live NBA scores board tracks the score as it moves, which is handy on the nights when five or six local-only games are running at once and only one of them is on a screen near you.
A quick word on start times
Four of the six national games tip at 10:30 p.m. Eastern because they are West Coast home games. If you are on the East Coast, the two early gifts are the October 11 doubleheader and the Peacock game on October 13. Plan the late ones accordingly.
The three games worth circling
Preseason results mean little, but first looks mean a lot. Spurs at Suns on October 10 is the first national window on the Western Conference champions, and any October minutes for Victor Wembanyama draw an audience for a reason. The October 11 doubleheader is the best value night of the fortnight: two games, back to back, both in the East and Midwest, done before midnight Eastern. And the closer, Nuggets at Lakers on October 16, is the final national tune-up before the real season, which usually means the most rotation-like minutes of any preseason game.
Everything else is scouting. Coaches use these weeks to test second units and end-of-bench fits, so a 20-point preseason loss tells you almost nothing about November. Watch the new faces and the lineups, not the standings.
What happens when preseason ends
The Lakers and Nuggets close the ESPN slate on Friday, October 16, and the league then takes a breath before the regular season opens on Tuesday, October 20 with a tripleheader on NBC and Peacock. If you want the full map of what follows, the full 2026-27 NBA schedule lays out the season from opening night through the April 11 finish, including the NBA Cup and Christmas Day.
Questions fans ask
How many NBA preseason games are on national TV in 2026?
Six. Five air across ESPN and ESPN2 between October 8 and 16, and one, Cavaliers at Magic on October 13, streams on Peacock. The October 3 opener in Quebec City aired on NBA TV.
What channel is the Lakers preseason game on?
The Lakers appear twice on national TV: hosting Sacramento on Thursday, October 8 at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, and hosting Denver on Friday, October 16 at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Their other preseason games are on their local broadcast.
Can I watch preseason games on League Pass?
Yes. NBA League Pass carries the local feeds of preseason games outside the national TV slate, subject to the usual local blackout rules for your home team.
When does the 2026 NBA preseason end?
Friday, October 16, 2026, with Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers on ESPN at 10:30 p.m. ET. The regular season opens four days later, on Tuesday, October 20.
Conclusion
Six national windows, five of them on ESPN networks and one on Peacock, carry the whole televised preseason between October 8 and 16. Catch the first looks now, then settle in for opening night on October 20 when the games start to count.
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