The 2025-26 NBA regular season is still a couple of months away. However, we are starting to get bits and pieces of the upcoming TV schedule for the season, and it's widely expected that the Houston Rockets will be getting a lot of attention.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Kevin Durant and the Rockets will open the regular season on the road against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on NBC (7:30 p.m. ET).
This will be the network’s first game to begin the 2025-26 season, as all eyes will be on Durant as he sees one of his former teams get their rings and hoist their banner. We also found out that Houston will get the honor of playing on Christmas against the Los Angeles Lakers.
On Thursday, we’ll find out the rest of the Rockets’ schedule, which will be must-see TV, as this team has the talent to make a deep playoff run. However, on Wednesday, we found out who the Rockets will be playing in their NBA Cup games, which also includes three national TV contests.
Here is the Rockets NBA Cup schedule. I look forward to the annual tradition of everyone pretending this thing matters while it's happening only to be forgotten about a week later pic.twitter.com/aw5k67G6az
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) August 13, 2025
Rockets Receive 3 Nationally Televised NBA Cup Games
According to Adam Spolane, the Rockets will play the San Antonio Spurs (road), Portland Trail Blazers (home), Denver Nuggets (home), and Golden State Warriors (road).
However, Houston’s games against the Spurs (11/7) and Nuggets (11/21) will be on Amazon Prime, while its matchup against the Warriors (11/26) will be on ESPN. If you’re a Rockets fan, you should be prepared for a ton of national TV games.
When you have Durant surrounded by a good core that took a huge leap last season, everyone wants to see if this team is real. Houston’s NBA Cup games will be a good first test to see how they match up against two of the better teams in the West (Denver and Golden State), along with the two rising teams in San Antonio and Portland.
In fact, the oddsmakers believe the Rockets could win the NBA Cup, as they are tied for the fourth-best odds (+1200) with the Orlando Magic and Nuggets, per FanDuel Sportsbook.
That said, even if Houston doesn’t win the cup, which doesn’t guarantee postseason success, it will be a good early-season test. If the Rockets can get out to a fast start and handle business in group play, this team will put itself in the conversation to be in the NBA Finals.
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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.