NBA Doubles Down on MLK Day Amid NFL Christmas Competition

The NBA’s pseudo-exclusive hold on Christmas Day has been infiltrated by the NFL in recent years, but it appears to be attempting to grow its legacy on another federal holiday alongside a new broadcast partner.

On Tuesday, NBC announced several notable games for the 2025–26 NBA season, including a four-game slate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While the league has maintained a consistent presence on the holiday, which lands on Jan. 19 next year, this is the first time it will have a four-game slate that will be aired or streamed nationally.

MLK Day Schedule

The lineup opens with a Peacock-exclusive game, which overlaps with a tripleheader on both NBC and Peacock (all times are ET).

• 1 p.m.: Bucks at Hawks (Peacock only)
• 2:30 p.m.: Thunder at Cavaliers (NBC, Peacock)
• 5 p.m.: Mavericks at Knicks (NBC, Peacock)
• 8 p.m.: Celtics at Pistons (NBC, Peacock)

A league source tells Front Office Sports that the four-game slate will not be the only NBA contests scheduled on MLK Day. The NBA typically has a full slate of games—it had eight last year—with just two that aired on TNT Sports networks, the league’s former broadcast partner. The full NBA schedule will be released Thursday.

This is different from the NBA’s Christmas plan, with a five-game national slate on ESPN networks and no other games on the calendar.

The NFL has, however, scheduled multiple games on Christmas since 2022, and is expected to have three games on the holiday for the foreseeable future. In 2024, the NBA had its most-watched Christmas lineup in five years, while the NFL broke streaming records on Netflix.

The NBA can attempt to plant its flag on MLK Day and own another holiday without competing with the NFL—though the NFL has scheduled divisional-round playoff games in recent years. There were no NFL games on MLK Day last year, and there are not expected to be any scheduled for this coming season.

Sunday Night Basketball

NBC, one of the NBA’s new media partners under an 11-year, $77 billion deal that starts this upcoming season, also announced the launch date of Sunday Night Basketball on Feb. 1. The coverage will be akin to the network’s Sunday Night Football coverage and include a one-hour studio program.

There will be either one or two games covered by Sunday Night Basketball. The networks also announced Peacock NBA Monday, which will be the first exclusively streamed NBA games. There will be up to three games featured per night.

The first will be a doubleheader on Oct. 27, the first Monday of the season, as the Cavaliers visit the Pistons and the Timberwolves host the Nuggets.