The Thunder will host the Houston Rockets for the 2025-26 Opening Night on Tuesday, Oct. 21. As tradition, they will celebrate their NBA championship with a pregame banner drop and ring ceremony. Kevin Durant's attendance across the court gives this matchup some extra juice as it will start the NBC era.

It will be the first season that the NBA is back on NBC since 2002, as the network will show up to 100 regular season games including five games each week during certain parts of the year on both NBC and Peacock. Color analysts for the network will include regular Celtics color commentator Brian Scalabrine.

The Oklahoma City Thunder felt slighted last season when they were left off the NBA’s Christmas schedule. That won’t be an issue this year. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the NBA champion Thunder will be working at home for Christmas this season,