LeBron James will visit the New York Knicks on opening night and the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas. James’ arrival in Philadelphia has made the 76ers must-see TV, and they are all over the NBA’s biggest days of the season. James will make his 76ers debut against the NBA champion Knicks on Oct.
20. The game at Madison Square Garden will be part of a tripleheader, when the Knicks raise a banner to celebrate their first championship since 1973 and James then kicks off the final stop in his career.
Key Factors
The full schedule will be released Thursday. He will return to face the Lakers on Christmas, after Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are back in New York for an NBA Finals rematch to open a five-game schedule. EDT start for a midweek game. The tripleheader is capped by the Spurs hosting Oklahoma City in a rematch of the Western Conference finals. Those three games — opening night traditionally has featured two in recent years — will all be televised by NBC. ESPN then has all five games on Christmas. That schedule: San Antonio at New York, Miami at Boston, Philadelphia at Los Angeles, Oklahoma City at Minnesota, and Denver at Golden State. James’ new team was always going to have a prominent place on the schedule, so the NBA struggled to put the puzzle together while waiting for him. James will play his first game in Philadelphia on Oct. “We’re not even halfway. The hardest is yet to come.
Because teams and networks were calling to ask when the schedule would be completed, commissioner Adam Silver even said last month that he wanted James to announce his decision. The season begins with the Boston Celtics visiting Detroit in a rare 3 p.m. 22 against Cleveland, one of his former teams that hoped to get him back for a third time. That will be part of an ESPN doubleheader preceding Denver visiting Oklahoma City. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) San Antonio Spurs Edge New York Knicks 115-111 In NBA Finals As Donald Trump Booed San Antonio Spurs Edge New York Knicks 115-111 In NBA Finals As Donald Trump Booed Victor Wembanyama scored 32 points to inspire the San Antonio Spurs to a 115-111 victory over New York in the NBA Finals on Monday, snapping the Knicks’ 13-game win streak with President Donald Trump booed as he watched on. Victor Wembanyama scored 32 points to inspire the San Antonio Spurs to a 115-111 victory over New York in the NBA Finals on Monday, snapping the Knicks’ 13-game win streak with President Donald Trump booed as he watched on. Frenchman Wembanyama added eight rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals at Madison Square Garden as the Spurs cut the Knicks’ lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven championship series. New York Knicks Beat San Antonio Spurs To Claim First NBA Title In 53 Years New York Knicks Beat San Antonio Spurs To Claim First NBA Title In 53 Years The New York Knicks, fueled by a sensational 45 points from Jalen Brunson, rallied again to beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 and win their first NBA title in 53 years on Saturday. The Knicks won the best-of-seven championship series 4-1, denying Victor Wembanyama and his young Spurs teammates on their home floor to lift the trophy for the first time since 1973. The Knicks, who recovered from 29 points down in game four to produce the biggest comeback in Finals history, erased a double-digit deficit to win for the fourth time in the series.
The NBA unveiled those games Tuesday morning as what it called a “sneak peek” at the 2026-27 schedule. James said it would be the 76ers about a week later, joining a team that had already acquired All-Star Jaylen Brown from Boston and will be one of the top challengers for the Knicks’ title. “We’ve done what we were supposed to do but the job is absolutely not done,” the 22-year-old Wembanyama said.
