The 2025-26 NBA season launched in spectacular fashion Tuesday night as the league returned to NBC for the first time in over two decades, delivering an opening night doubleheader that showcased championship-caliber basketball and introduced sweeping changes to the league’s broadcast landscape.
Thunder Edge Rockets in Instant Classic
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder began their title defense with a heart-stopping 125-124 double-overtime victory over the Houston Rockets at Paycom Center. Reigning MVP and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander delivered when it mattered most, leading his team to victory in front of a raucous home crowd that had just witnessed the franchise’s first championship banner being raised to the rafters.
The game featured 13 lead changes and seven ties, living up to its billing as a clash between two Western Conference powers. Both Kevin Durant and Chet Holmgren fouled out in the marathon contest, with Holmgren opening the season’s scoring with an and-1 finish and contributing 18 first-half points on 7-of-9 shooting.
The Rockets, playing without point guard Fred VanVleet (who suffered a torn ACL in September), deployed an unusually tall starting lineup to compensate. Houston’s ball-hawking defense, led by Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr., gave the Thunder fits with a 2-3 zone in the second half. Durant, now in Houston colors, paced the Rockets with strong performances throughout, while Thompson and Alperen Sengun each contributed 10 points in the first half.
Oklahoma City returns 14 of the 15 players from last season’s championship roster, and their resilience in securing the opening night victory demonstrated why they remain the team to beat.
Warriors Top Lakers Behind Butler’s 31
In the nightcap, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109, with Jimmy Butler leading all scorers with 31 points in his first full season with the franchise. Stephen Curry, in his 17th year with Golden State, added 22 points including a crucial 35-foot three-pointer with 51 seconds remaining that effectively sealed the victory.
The Lakers, playing without LeBron James (sidelined with sciatica), received a game-high 43 points from Luka Dončić in his season debut for Los Angeles. The newly-acquired superstar looked sharp after a transformative offseason focused on conditioning and nutrition, but couldn’t prevent his team from falling to 0-1.
Los Angeles trimmed a 15-point deficit to just six points with under four minutes remaining, energizing the home crowd, but the Warriors’ championship experience proved decisive down the stretch.
NBA’s New Era: Broadcast Revolution and Rule Changes
Tuesday’s games marked the beginning of a transformative 11-year broadcast deal that fundamentally reshapes how fans consume NBA basketball:
Broadcasting Landscape
- NBC and Peacock: Return to NBA coverage after 23 years, with 100 regular-season games, three MLK Day matchups, and approximately 28 playoff games
- Amazon Prime Video: Exclusive home for Friday night doubleheaders and Thursday night games starting in 2026, plus the NBA Cup knockout rounds
- ESPN/ABC: Continue with NBA Wednesday games, limited Friday games, and ABC retains the NBA Finals
- Inside the NBA: Moving from TNT to ESPN under the new deal
NBC’s opening night broadcast featured Mike Tirico alongside Hall of Famers Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford, with Noah Eagle, Grant Hill, and Ashley ShahAhmadi calling the Lakers-Warriors matchup.
The “Heave Rule” and Other Changes
Beginning with the 2025-26 season, the NBA implemented several significant changes:
The Heave Rule: Any shot attempted from at least 36 feet from the basket in the final three seconds of the first three quarters will now count as a team shot rather than an individual one, eliminating the impact on players’ shooting percentages. This rule only applies when the play originates in the backcourt, addressing long-standing concerns about players avoiding end-of-quarter heaves to protect their statistics.
All-Star Format: The All-Star Game will feature a new three-team tournament format with two U.S. teams and one international team, departing from traditional East-West matchups.
NBA Cup: The in-season tournament returns from October 31 through December 16, 2025, with group play games streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Technology Enhancement: NBA Top Shot collectibles now feature on-chain permanence, allowing independent retrieval and verification of digital assets.
Looking Ahead
The season’s early storylines are already taking shape. Can Oklahoma City become the first team to repeat as champions since Golden State in 2017-18? Will Dončić lead the retooled Lakers deeper into the playoffs? How will the league’s new broadcast partnerships change fan engagement?
Wednesday’s schedule features six more nationally televised games as part of American Express Tip-Off week, including Cleveland visiting New York on ESPN and Boston facing the Clippers on Prime Video.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told TODAY that the league has evolved dramatically since NBC last broadcast games in 2002. “Last time we were on NBC, big men could never shoot the way they can now,” Silver noted, highlighting the game’s transformation over the past two decades.
With 80 games on each team’s schedule initially announced (with the potential for two more based on NBA Cup performance), a reimagined All-Star format, and unprecedented broadcast access across multiple platforms, the 2025-26 season promises to be one of the most accessible and entertaining in league history.
The wait is over. Basketball is back—and it’s bigger than ever.