How Nba's 2026-27 Season Schedule Subtly Reflects The Warriors' Slippage

How NBA's 2026-27 season schedule subtly reflects the Warriors' slippage originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

After lounging at the penthouse level of NBA hierarchy for more than a decade, the league is bumping the Warriors to a lower floor next season.

The 2026-27 NBA schedule, released Thursday, reveals the Warriors will get less national TV exposure than they’ve become accustomed to and that their annual Christmas Day appearance is being pushed from prime viewing hours to the national nightcap.

Even with Stephen Curry still on the roster.

Golden State will appear in 28 national TV games, a drop from 34 last season, which kept them in the top tier. Top-tier status has become customary, as the Warriors last season were one of four teams – along with the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks and the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder – scheduled for 34 appearances on national TV.

Both teams at Tier 2 last season, the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves, were scheduled for 28 games.

The Warriors will play on Christmas Day for the 14th consecutive season, but rather than a coveted midday or late-afternoon slot, they will close the five-game schedule with a 7:30 tipoff against the Denver Nuggets at Chase Center.

Though the Warriors still speak confidently about contending, the league’s schedule is an open acknowledgment of their slippage. They are an aging team that has missed the playoffs in four of the last seven seasons and two of the last three.

Meanwhile, other teams have been climbing. Tier 1 for national TV games will include teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers, as well as the Thunder and defending champion Knicks.

The global fascination with Curry is the primary reasoning for the NBA consistently giving Golden State maximum national TV exposure, as he remains the league’s No. 1 TV attraction. He missed 39 games last season and will turn 39 years old next season. It’s reasonable to believe the absence of the team’s No. 2 attraction, Jimmy Butler III, expected to be sidelined for at least the first half of next season also influenced the scheduling.

For context, the Warriors were scheduled for 36 national TV appearances in 2024-25 and 41 in 2023-24.

The NBA and its rightsholders have the flexibility to add or subtract during the season. When the Warriors opened the 2019-20 season by losing Curry in the first week and crawling to a 4-18 start, the league pulled two of their games initially slated for national TV. 

The 2026-27 schedule is the NBA’s most evident step toward replacing the Warriors as an elite national attraction.

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