The NBA schedule was released on Thursday. The Charlotte Hornets, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, and Washington Wizards will face the most back-to-backs with 16. Meanwhile, the four teams with more national TV games are the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, LA Lakers, New York Knicks, and Golden State Warriors, with 34.
Beyond that, at HoopsHype we broke down which parts of the season will be tougher or easier for each team. We used average over/under win projections from the most popular sportsbooks to build a month-by-month Strength of Schedule (SOS) for every NBA team in 2025-26. For each month, we calculated SOS as the simple average of that month’s opponents’ projected wins. We also tracked games scheduled per month, opponent total wins, and a normalized SOS Index where 100 equals the league-average opponent (the higher the number, the more difficult their schedule is).
Among the toughest stretches of the season are the Sacramento Kings in November with a 113.4 SoS, and the Utah Jazz and the LA Clippers will follow in December with a very hard 114.4 and 111.3 SoS, respectively.
On the flip side, the Timberwolves draw a soft November schedule (87.8 SoS), and the Bucks get the same break in December (87.8). A big winning streak in those months wouldn’t mean much.
The Clippers (116.9 SoS) and Nuggets (115.5) could hit some rough patches in February, but by then, strength-of-schedule numbers will shift, with some teams tanking and others reshaping their rosters after the trade deadline.
For now, here’s the breakdown month by month for each team so you can check it yourself.
Atlanta HawksBoston CelticsCharlotte HornetsCleveland CavaliersDallas MavericksDenver NuggetsGolden State WarriorsMilwaukee BucksNew York KnicksOklahoma City ThunderPhiladelphia 76ersPhoenix SunsPortland Trail BlazersSacramento KingsUtah JazzWashington Wizards