If you happened to glance at TV during work on Tuesday and wondered why you were watching an NBA game, NBC hopes that won’t seem so surprising going forward.

And if someone told you there was an NBA game on today, but your local NBC affiliate was showing something else, you’re not alone.

The first game of the 2026-27 NBA regular season tipped off at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, with the Detroit Pistons hosting the Boston Celtics. NBC hopes to make this midday start an annual addition to the league’s traditional opening night schedule.

They’ve pulled out all the stops, with “College Gameday-style activations,” a rendition of “Roundball Rock” by a marching band, and plenty of activities around Little Caesars Arena and Detroit.

The goal is to turn the NBA’s season return into an all-day experience and cement a new tradition as part of NBC’s return to broadcasting NBA games.

“We kind of challenged the NBA,” NBC Sports Executive Vice President Justin Byczek told USA TODAY Sports. “We think opening day should be expanded, and we’d love to be the network that gets behind it, and over the course of the next decade, let’s try to understand where opening day can get to.”

Traditionally, the NBA’s opening day is a two-game affair, and the later showdowns reflect that, with the defending NBA champion New York Knicks raising their banner against LeBron James and the revamped Philadelphia 76ers, followed by a Western Conference Finals rematch between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Both of those games are on NBC and Peacock as well.

NBC appears to be banking on an afternoon tilt between the Pistons and Celtics driving excitement and audiences into that Knicks-Sixers broadcast. However, they’ve run into a snag: affiliates are hesitant to carry the non-traditional programming.

Many NBC viewers took to social media to say that despite their TV guides saying they should be watching Pistons-Celtics, their local affiliate was showing something else.

It appears basically all of Gray’s NBC affiliates (up to 64 stations) are preempting Celtics-Pistons and moving it to a subchannel or preempting it completely. Nashville, Columbia, Omaha NE, Wilmington, Montgomery among a few markets affected

— Joe Wright (@Sctvman) October 20, 2026

@YouTubeTV why isn’t the Celtics/Pistons game showing on my Tv???? Why am I watching judge judy brother????

— Leonard Miller enthusiast (@TheBigWrigley) October 20, 2026

My NBC affiliate is choosing to air an old-folks infomercial rather than Celtics-Pistons

— boosain bolt thrower 👻 (@thiccofferman.bsky.social) October 20, 2026 at 12:06 PM

Two NBC affiliates WAVY 10 in Norfolk & WMTV 15 in Madison won’t air Boston Celtics @ Detroit Pistons, due to programming commitments. They’ll be on WVBT 43.2, Hampton Road’s CW / Madison CW 15.2 / Peacock / NBC Sports app.

— Miguel L. Sanchez (@SanchezML94) October 20, 2026

MUST BE NICE.. cause it’s not on NBC.

— Music City Bets (@MusicCityBets) October 20, 2026

The NBC affiliate (WMC) in Memphis has preempted Celtics/Pistons & is airing regularly scheduled programming.

The game has been relegated to their sports centric digital subchannel.

@TVSportsUpdates

#NBATipOff #DifferentHere #Detroitbasketball https://t.co/tSR8VbzIXA

— Cereal Fanatic (@CerealFanatic_) October 20, 2026

If you live in an area where the NBC affiliate isn’t showing the game, you can watch it on Peacock. Many affiliates have also put the game on a different channel that you’ll have to track down. But that’s beside the point. It’s a tough ask to start a new tradition by giving people a national NBA broadcast when a large chunk of your audience can’t even access it.

UPDATE: “Broadcast stations serving 99% of U.S. households aired the game either on NBC or an alternate local station. It was also available on Peacock,” an NBC Sports spokesperson said in a statement to Awful Announcing.