NBA Adjusts Finals Game Schedule To Remove Sunday Games

The 2026 NBA Finals are set to begin on Wednesday June 3 and could run through Friday, June 19 if it were to go to the full seven games.  It is the first time since the 1970 Finals series between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers to not have a contest scheduled for a Sunday.  The 1999 NBA Finals between the Spurs and Knicks did not play a Finals game on a Sunday, but only because the series was completed in five games.  Game 6 of that series was scheduled for a Sunday.

NBA Changes Schedule Due To World Cup

A league source tells Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch that the NBA made the changes to the Finals to limit the amount of overlap between it and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico.  The United States Men’s National Team is set to have its first primetime game of the tournament on June 12, which would have coincided with Game 5 of the NBA Finals.  In response the NBA moved a possible Game 5 to Saturday.  The USMNT is also scheduled to play on June 19, the same day as a prospective Game 7 matchup, but the soccer match would be in the afternoon.

The league schedules two days off for travel between sites in the Finals, but has also in years past scheduled two days off between Games 1 and 2 of the series, which has been eliminated for this year.  It will also be the first time since 2004 that the Finals does not begin on a Thursday, which would have given the NBA a pair of Sunday night contests, known to be the most watched night for sports.