The Brooklyn Nets now know what the 2026-27 regular season looks like, and a few dates stand out right away.
Brooklyn’s schedule comes with 80 games, with two of those set later in the year as the NBA Cup sorts out who gets to head to Las Vegas for bragging rights. If the Nets are again among the league’s bottom teams, that kind of in-season event could end up getting a little more attention in Brooklyn than usual.
The slate also includes a seven-game homestand from Mar. 21 to Apr. 2, along with two separate five-game road trips on the West Coast. And with 16 back-to-backs on the calendar, it’s easy to see why plenty of fans feel the schedule didn’t do the team many favors.
Still, there are a handful of games that should draw the most attention.
The opener comes Oct. 21 at home against the Charlotte Hornets. Charlotte enters without LaMelo Ball or Miles Bridges after the trades it made this summer, so the big question is whether the Hornets are headed for the same kind of rebuilding path Brooklyn is on. Even so, Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel remain in place alongside Naz Reid, giving that matchup enough intrigue to kick things off.
Three nights later, the Nets hit the road for the first time on Oct. 24 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. That one matters because Cleveland has had Brooklyn’s number in recent seasons. Brooklyn does have a new wrinkle here, though: former Cavaliers guard Keon Ellis is now on the Nets, and his familiarity with that building could help.
Oct. 30 brings Brooklyn’s first NBA Cup game, and it’s not a soft landing. The Nets will host Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons, a team that could start slowly with extended negotiations involving center Jalen Duren. If that situation gets settled quickly, Brooklyn will need to be sharp to handle Detroit in Cup play.
Another notable date comes Nov. 18, when Nic Claxton returns to Brooklyn with the Chicago Bulls after being sent there in the trade that brought Julius Randle to the Nets. Claxton should fill a need for Chicago in the middle, and the game also sets up a draft-night matchup between Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 6 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and Caleb Wilson, who went No. 4.
Then there’s Feb. 4, when the Los Angeles Lakers visit Barclays Center. That one gives fans a chance to see Ziaire Williams back in Brooklyn after what was arguably the best season of his career. Williams was one of the most active defenders the Nets have had in a while, so his return adds a little extra weight to an otherwise ordinary regular-season date.
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Nets Rebuild Suddenly Puts Massive Pressure On Their 2025 Draft Class
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Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf are all entering pivotal second seasons, which makes this stretch feel less like summer development and more like a referendum on the strategy itself. Brooklyn took multiple first-round swings in 2025 to accelerate the rebuild, but the payoff is still unsettled, and the pressure on those young players only grows as the roster around them starts to take shape. [Read more 🡒]