The Stein Line

NBA training camps don't start for another month or so, but those of you missing NBA basketball have something quite imminent and interesting to look forward to: Some of your favorites will be playing in actual game conditions very soon. As in: As soon as Thursday.

The NBA's schedule release for the 2026-27 campaign is more than a week old now and, well, I suppose we can refer to it as one of the top 10 stories in this unexpectedly wild month of August.

Mid-August is an allegedly sleepy time in the NBA. Emphasis on allegedly. So much happened this week that I haven't had a chance to process or comment on all of it yet. The full schedule for the 2026-27 season was released in three parts Tuesday through Thursday.

Over the weekend I reached out to the league office with a plea: Please don't announce the full 2026-27 schedule on Thursday. I was trying to preserve the sanctity of International Left-Handers Day. I argued that nothing should be happening Thursday in the NBA to steal the thunder of what we will always treat as a national holiday here at Stein Line HQ. Ye…

The first game of the NBA's 2026-27 season that counts will be played at 3 PM ET on Oct. 20: Boston at Detroit. So … Three NBA games on Opening Night on Oct. 20: Boston at Detroit Philadelphia at New York Oklahoma City at San Antonio 11:43 AM · Aug 11, 2026 · 259K Views 26 Replies · 91 Reposts · 427 Likes If Opening Night actually starts in the afternoon ... who says we can't continue our summerlong tradition of dropping Late Night Intel pieces as we approach mid-August? Right.

More than a month has elapsed since Kawhi Leonard attended a press conference in the Toronto Raptors' practice facility to celebrate his retiring former teammate Kyle Lowry. Toronto Sun@TheTorontoSun THAT'S A RAP! Lowry to have his No. 7 retired, ends NBA career as a Raptor -- as familiar face crashes news conference. Check out our front page for Wednesday, July 8, 2026.

It was the end of a long, stormy night in Oklahoma City in June 2025 and Don Nelson, freshly honored with the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award by the NBA Coaches Association, wanted to start unwinding. So as he exited Paycom Center, Nelson removed the Gone Fishing edition of the Luka Dončić signature sneakers he had been wearing for hours to protes…

Quiet time in the NBA? Says who? The full schedule for the 2026-27 NBA regular season will soon be released and Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are less than two weeks away in Springfield, Mass. Plus you never know when the inspiration will strike for a fresh burst of Late Night NBA Intel. Example: This Monday night became a must.

The NBA, if recent history proves to be a reliable guide, should release its schedule for the 2026-27 season at some point during the week of Aug. 10. In the interim ... Let's try to predict the five-game Christmas Day slate. We know you want to. Scroll down to the comments section below and share your suggestions for the five games. To assist in the proces…

Three straight nights of Late Night NBA Intel? Even in late July? We weren't planning on it. But we had to do it. The first two installment in case you missed them: And now to the latest from my notebook on NBA trade and free agency matters after Jake Fischer's action-packed Monday night Intel compilation: As each day passes we learn more and more about the nearly monthlong free agency process that has stunningly landed LeBron James in Philadelphia.