NBC Sports is adding a Saturday tripleheader to its second week of NBA playoffs coverage, with nine games set across April 25-28 and the first weekend of the Nba Playoff Bracket beginning on April 25, 2026. The network said Saturday’s schedule starts with Pistons-Magic Game 3 at 1 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN, continues with Thunder-Suns Game 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, and ends with Knicks-Hawks Game 4 at 6 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
The biggest numbers are already on the board. Oklahoma City leads Phoenix 2-0 after two home wins, Detroit and Orlando are tied 1-1, and New York and Atlanta are tied 1-1. NBC Sports said it will show up to 41 live games in the first round and conference semifinals, with exclusive coverage of the Western Conference Finals. It also said this will be its first time carrying NBA games on a Saturday this season.
For the Thunder, the NBC game carries a bit of broadcast history with it. Saturday’s matchup will be the first-ever Thunder playoff game on NBC, while it is the first time the Suns have appeared on NBC since Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round on April 29, 2001. The Pistons-Magic game also has a spotlight of its own, with Paolo Banchero’s Orlando team hosting Game 3 at Kia Center in Orlando, Florida, and Cade Cunningham’s Pistons carrying the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference into the matchup.
The schedule comes at a point when the bracket can turn quickly. NBC Sports said the opening weekend includes possible series-clinching Game 4s and Game 5s, and the broader four-day run from April 25-28 includes Saturday and Monday tripleheaders plus a Sunday doubleheader. The league’s best-in-the-clutch star will also be in the center of the day’s showcase, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who won the 2025-26 NBA Clutch Player of the Year Award with 96 of 100 first-place votes, leading a Thunder team that went 20-7 in the 27 clutch games he played.
That gives NBC a crowded and consequential stretch to open the second week of coverage. The network is trying to make a single weekend do a lot of work: show the early shape of the nba playoff bracket, deliver marquee windows across two channels and a streaming service, and set up the series that may decide the rest of the spring before the first round is finished.