The NBA Is Back! How to Watch the NBA 2025 Season Tipoff on NBC & Peacock
Don’t miss a minute of the doubleheader action on October 21, when the NBA on NBC rings in the return of pro basketball.
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Can you hear that countdown clock ticking? We’re only an exciting buzzer-beater’s moment away from the official start of the 2025-2026 NBA season, and every second of the opening night action is happening live on NBC and Peacock.
October 21 marks the beginning of the regular season calendar for professional basketball — but it’s also the start of the NBA on NBC's hugely hyped return. It’s shaping up to be a pretty epic spectacle at that, featuring a season-opening doubleheader between the Houston Rockets and the reigning champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, followed by a West Coast showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers.
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How can you catch the first two games of the 2025-2026 NBA regular season on NBC and Peacock? Keep scrolling for details!
Where to watch the NBA 2025 season tipoff doubleheader on NBC & Peacock
The NBA regular season for 2025-2026 officially tips off on Tuesday, October 21. For the first time since 2002, NBC Sports will be covering all the action as the NBA on NBC makes its return with a back-to-back broadcast of doubleheader games. Both NBA games featured in the October 21 opening-night doubleheader will be broadcast live on NBC and Peacock.
The Houston Rockets will travel to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the season’s first game, which is slated for tipoff at 7:30 p.m. ET. That’ll be followed by the Golden State Warriors at the Los Angeles Lakers, with a tipoff time set for 10 p.m. ET.
What to know about the NBA on NBC
Starting in October and running right on into the playoffs, the NBA on NBC is back (complete with that iconic “Roundball Rock” theme song!) for the first time in almost 24 years.
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All throughout the NBA season, viewers will be treated to an enormous lineup of live pro basketball games on both NBC and Peacock. Part of an 11-year agreement that assures NBA on NBC coverage over the next decade, the full 2025-2026 season schedule includes Peacock-exclusive streaming matchups every Monday night from October through April — plus Coast 2 Coast Tuesday, which lives up to its name by bringing prime time coverage of regional doubleheader games to both NBC and Peacock every Tuesday.
On top of that, NBC Sports will also launch Sunday Night Basketball across both NBC and Peacock in early 2026, after Sunday Night Football winds down. Also coming in January is an NBA first, as NBC Sports presents a mind-blowing quadrupleheader of all-day basketball action on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 19, 2026), with the games set to broadcast on both NBC and Peacock.
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