Sixers

Sixers Will Play the Knicks on Opening Day and the Lakers on Christmas

By Matt Schultz

Published: Aug 11th, 2026 · 9:50 AM EDT

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Shams:

NBA Opening Night on Oct. 20 on NBC:

– Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks

– OKC Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 11, 2026

NBA Christmas Day 2026 on ABC and ESPN:

– Spurs @ Knicks
– Heat @ Celtics
– 76ers @ Lakers
– Thunder @ Timberwolves
– Nuggets @ Warriors

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 11, 2026

Hell yeah. Ton to like here. The Sixers will be playing at Madison Square Garden on the Knicks’ banner night. Imagine how bad the Knicks and their fans are going to take that loss. Imagine how upset they’re going to be when the broadcast spends the whole game glazing LeBron and the Sixers and barely mentioning the Knicks’ title. Imagine Fat Joe shuffling toward the exit with four minutes left, Knicks down 25, nacho cheese dried onto the front of his shirt. Gonna be incredible.

Having the Sixers play on Christmas Day rules too, but I got to say, I don’t care much for this matchup. Who cares about the Lakers? Do any Sixers fans care about the Lakers? I feel nothing towards them. The only people who might care a little about this game is LeBron and Bronny. The rest of us don’t give a rat’s ass. Maybe this is the league doing LeBron a favor by letting him be at home in LA for Christmas. That’s my conspiracy theory. And I do not like it.

Christmas Day should’ve been Sixers vs. Celtics. That seems like a no-brainer. To not have the Jaylen Brown revenge tour stop in Boston on one of the marquee NBA days of the year feels like a big miss. Also, Celtics vs. Heat on Christmas? Why? That’s another matchup that means nothing. The only current-ish storyline there is that Giannis was rumored to go to the Celts before being traded to the Heat… but so what? Does anyone think about that story anymore? The Jaylen trade story is way bigger and weirder, and the Sixers and Celtics are actual historic rivals. Adam Silver is not good at his job.

But overall, this is good stuff. Christmas is a miss, but the Sixers are going to be on national TV a million times this year, so it’ll all come out in the wash. Very exciting times.