Cavs’ 2025-26 schedule loaded with national games, holiday matchups

August 14, 2025

Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers, Cavs, Celtics, NBA — AP

The Cavaliers are headed for more prime-time basketball — and plenty of it. That’s just what happens when you’re considered a bona fide NBA contender.

Cleveland will make 24 national television appearances in 2025-26, starting Oct. 22 at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, the NBA schedule announcement revealed. They’ll be back at the Garden for a noon tip on Christmas Day, marking their first Christmas appearance since the 2017-18 season.

It’s part of a loaded national slate that features seven games on ESPN, five on NBC/Peacock, five more exclusively on Peacock, four on Amazon Prime Video and three on ABC.

The schedule begins with four of the first five games on the road, including the opener against New York and an Oct. 24 matchup in Brooklyn. The home opener is set for Oct. 26 against Central Division rival Milwaukee.

Eighty of Cleveland’s 82 games are locked in, with the final two determined by their performance in the NBA Cup. Group play runs Oct. 31 through Nov. 28, with the Cavs slotted into East Group A alongside Toronto, Washington, Indiana and Atlanta.

Eight teams will advance to the knockout rounds Dec. 9-10, with the semifinals Dec. 13 and the championship Dec. 16 in Las Vegas.

Some dates, of course, jump off the page.

LeBron James and the Lakers visit Jan. 28 — and given where James is in his career, it could be one of his last regular-season games in Cleveland. There’s also the six-game homestand in November that includes Kevin Durant’s Houston Rockets on Nov. 19 and a playoff rematch with Indiana on Nov. 21.

Along with all that, the Cavs will play 14 back-to-back sets, two baseball-style series on the road, and endure a five-game Western trip from Jan. 30 to Feb. 9.

The end of the season will test them. Twenty of their final 33 games are on the road, including trips to Boston, Denver and Golden State. The regular season wraps April 12 at Rocket Arena against Washington.

Coming off 64 wins, the second-most in franchise history, the Cavs enter as one of the league’s favorites, especially in the East. The schedule reflects that status, as the NBA clearly wants them front and center. Now all they gotta do is prove they belong there.