The schedule for the 2025-2026 NBA season is starting to take shape, as early pieces of the slate are making their way out. For opening night on Oct. 21, the NBA will tip off the season with two games on NBC, perESPN's Shams Charania. The night will include the Houston Rockets visiting the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors traveling to the Los Angeles Lakers. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] The first matchup has the defending NBA champs hosting the Rockets, who finished second in the West last season. The second could pit two league heavyweights, Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Lakers forward LeBron James, against each other to start the season (though James' future with the Lakersis currently a little uncertain). Either way, it opens the season with the league's triumphant return to NBC, asthe network hosts NBA gamesfor the first time in more than two decades. 🚨🚨🚨Opening Night of the 2025-26 NBA season on NBC on Oct. 21, per sources:- Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder- Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania)August 8, 2025 In addition to opening night, Charania hasoffered up a reporton the NBA's Christmas Day slate. Those matchups are: Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder Rockets at Lakers Dallas Mavericks at Warriors Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets Four of the five matchups will be between Western Conference teams, with only Cavs-Knicks representing the East. Additionally, the Lakers and Warriors will be the only teams featured on both signature days. For decades, Christmas was a signature part of the NBA season, with the league holding games on the holiday since the 1940s. But the NFL has recently started to encroach on the NBA by hosting Christmas games of its own, in a direct connection to the league's success on Thanksgiving. Last season,the NBA had its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, with 5.25 million viewers across the five games on ABC and ESPN, an 84% viewership jump from the previous year. That number falls well short of the NFL, which had 65 million total viewers on Netflix for two games, averaging 24 million viewers. In January, LeBron James admitted on the Kelce brothers' "New Heights" podcastthat the NFL "kicked our ass"last Christmas "from a viewership standpoint." Part of that was the added entertainment, as Beyoncé's halftime show drew some of that viewership. But overall, the NFL trounced the NBA last Christmas, marking a troubling trend for the NBA's future on the holiday. This year's Christmas schedule for the NFL includes three games: Dallas Cowboys-Washington Commanders, Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs. The slate will feature three division rivalries, some big names, and overall some big viewership draws. The 2025 NBA slate doesn't offer the punchiest matchups from the league. Despite some hopes that the league would feature a Lakers-Mavericks game — a.k.a., a Luka Dončić homecoming — on either opening night or Christmas, that doesn't seem to be the case this season. The games offer up some star power, and Cavs-Knicks offers up a big-name, standings-relevant matchup (at least based on last season's results). Overall, the holiday lineup is missing a little bit of oomph — though, of course, a lot can happen before Dec. 25 to change that.