The Detroit Pistons‘ full 2025-26 schedule was released Thursday, August 14. They will look to build on a surprise 44-win season that ended with a gut-wrenching first-round exit to the New York Knicks that saw them lose all three home games in a winnable series despite no Jaden Ivey or Isaiah Stewart (besides Game 1).
Here are three takeaways from the Pistons’ 82-game regular season schedule, which has them on a national broadcast 16 times.
They will be in the national spotlight
Last summer, the Pistons were granted a single game on ESPN following a franchise-worst 14-68 season. They picked up more games on national TV as the season progressed and morphed into a playoff contender, and that trend has continued into the upcoming season.
The Pistons are currently scheduled for 16 national games, including four on ESPN and two on NBC. They also will have six games streaming exclusively on Peacock and four games streaming only on Amazon Prime.
Peacock, the streaming platform for NBC, will feature the Pistons three times within their first 11 games, all at home — against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Oct. 27, in Peacock’s inaugural Monday doubleheader (7 p.m.), Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 1 and Washington Wizards on Nov. 10. The Pistons will face the Atlanta Hawks on the road on NBC and Peacock on Nov. 18, and again Jan. 10 when they host the Boston Celtics.
Their ESPN games are scheduled for Nov. 26 on the road against the Celtics and at home against the Cavaliers on Feb. 26, Hawks on March 25 and Milwaukee Bucks on April 8 in the season’s third-to-last game.
Pistons’ first 25 games feature an Eastern Conference test
The Pistons’ first 25 games include three against the Bucks, two each against the Orlando Magic and Hawks and one against the Cavaliers. They comprise most of the teams they will primarily be battling for home-court advantage in the playoffs, with both the Magic and Hawks expected to take a leap forward coming off of an active offseason.
That stretch also includes two games against the Philadelphia 76ers, who could reemerge as a contender depending on Joel Embiid’s health status, and two games against the Indiana Pacers, who could still be in the playoff mix despite losing Tyrese Haliburton to injury and Myles Turner to the Bucks in free agency.
The Celtics also appear twice, though they will take a step back with Jayson Tatum injured and most of their key veterans departed.
By early December, the Pistons will have a good idea of where they stand in the East.
Knicks return to Detroit in January
A rivalry between the Pistons and Knicks brewed during their six-game playoff series in the 2025 first round, and fans at Little Caesars Arena greeted the road team with deafening boos — and obscene chants — that came through loud and clear on the TV broadcast.
The Knicks will play in Detroit twice, on Jan. 5 and Feb. 6. The Pistons will round out the three-game slate in New York a couple weeks later Feb. 19 at Madison Square Garden, where they won two of three in the postseason.
Peacock will air the first game, and Prime will carry the final two.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pistons schedule takeaways for 2025-26: Hello, national TV audience
