A second marquee matchup of the reigning NBA champion New York Knicks against the Philadelphia 76ers and LeBron James, along with the Los Angeles Lakers playing at the Golden State Warriors mark the first opening day of NBA Cup play on Oct. 30.
The league on Wednesday announced the full NBA Cup schedule as well as the 15 nationally televised games that will air on ESPN, Prime Video or NBC/Peacock.
The Knicks, who defeated the San Antonio Spurs in both the NBA Cup final and the NBA Finals last season, will also be featured in Cup games against the Indiana Pacers (Nov. 13) and Miami Heat (Nov. 27). New York became the first NBA Cup winner to refuse to hang a banner to acknowledge the achievement before going on to end its 53-year drought as NBA champions.
The NBA announced Tuesday that the Knicks would raise their championship banner on the league's opening night Oct. 20 against the 76ers, whom James chose in what he called his final free agency decision.
NBA Cup games will be played every Friday from Oct. 30 to Nov. 27 along with additional Cup games on Nov. 24 and 25. The top team from each group plus one wild-card team from each conference will advance to the quarterfinals (Dec. 4-5). The semifinals will be held Dec. 8-9, with the championship game at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11.
The six NBA Cup groups were announced in June.
The Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup in 2023; the event was simply called the in-season tournament that year. The Milwaukee Bucks won in 2024.
The NBA will release the entire 2026-27 schedule on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
