When the NBA announced on Tuesday morning that the season would tip off with the Celtics playing the Pistons in Detroit on a Tuesday at 3 PM EST, there was some confusion and frustration, to say the least. Many fans in Boston and Detroit will be busy at work, and even young fans will likely still be getting home from school when the game tips off.
Three NBA games on Opening Night on Oct. 20:
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 11, 2026
Boston at Detroit
Philadelphia at New York
Oklahoma City at San Antonio pic.twitter.com/lUmg5gd5uQ
It doesn’t make any sense for local diehards who will have been waiting months to watch their teams, and now must miss work, miss school, or miss the game. That sounds like a losing strategy for the NBA, and the league’s explanation is even more suspect.
Dave McMenamin of ESPN explained that the NBA is experimenting due to the league’s momentum, and they want this to become a big showcase and possibly even a new tradition, finishing by saying, “It's an international game; 3 PM Eastern is prime time viewing in Europe".
NBA's obsession with any audience but their own is beyond obnoxious
It’s an international game? It’s being played in Detroit, Michigan, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon local time. I get that basketball is a global sport, and the NBA is growing, but this is ridiculous and a slap in the face to fans in the local markets.
I’m all for adding more nationally televised games and experimenting with growing the game and the league, but there are better ways to do this that don’t rob lots of fans of getting to watch their favorite team’s first game of the season. Could this not be done on a weekend? How about on a holiday? Even during a school vacation would be an improvement over this.
The NBA has a lot of good ideas, and they’ve certainly experienced a surge in popularity, but too often it seems like Adam Silver can’t get out of his own way, or is too high on his own supply, and this is the latest example. They want a celebration of the game. They want a showcase. They want to enhance it. Okay, fine! But why does that mean starting the season in the middle of a random workday?
Starting the season at 3 o'clock local time is absurd
Heck, I’m not even opposed to the idea of a triple-header instead of a double-header, but the start times are nonsensical. The night games start at 7 and 9:30, so why would the first game be at 3? Even 4:30 or 5 would be a step in the right direction. They could even push things back a little bit; start the first game at 5:30, the second game at 8, and the third game at 10:30.
That would be a massive improvement for the American audience, and I’m sure it would even do wonders for the West Coast and the entire portion of the US that operates in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. But no. Instead, they’d rather cater to a European audience for some dumb reason, and here we are.
Sorry, Celtics fans; hopefully this is at least enough notice to get the day off. Start working on those fake coughs and sneezes now, so they’ll be ready for October 20th! Thanks a lot, Adam Silver!
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