The 2025-26 NBA season is just around the corner, and we’ve been hard at work breaking down the NBA schedule to find basketball road trip ideas.

It promises to be another intriguing season of pro hoops. The NBA Cup (aka the In-Season Tournament) returns for another year, while All-Star Weekend comes to the Clippers’ Intuit Dome in February.

Meanwhile, everyone will be gunning for the Thunder, who are coming off their first championship in OKC history.

As you might know, we create road trip idea posts on an annual basis for the NBA and for the other major sports leagues. (Check out our current posts for the NFL and NHL for more!)

If this is your first time reading one of these posts, here are the ground rules under which we work to devise these trips (though we will bend or break a rule from time to time if the game or travel opportunity is just too good):

• We looked to pack as many games into as small a timeframe as possible, at least considering typical travel times by car (we won’t suggest you travel cross-country for games on back-to-back days, for instance).
• We try to look only at trips where you’re traveling in the same general direction as you go from city to city (so no zig-zagging around).
• We tried to limit the number of times you see a particular team to twice (admittedly difficult, as many times it’s easier to plan a trip through a region because a certain team is on a road swing through it).
• And we looked only at minimum four-city trips, because longer trips are always more fun.

We find that basketball in particular presents a challenge because of the number of cities whose only major sports team is an NBA franchise. This makes the geographical landscape look a lot different than other leagues.

Keep reading to see some of the road trip ideas that the 2025-26 NBA schedule presents. And don’t forget that you can buy NBA game tickets on Vivid Seats.

1) The West Coast opener

Thursday, Oct. 23: Nuggets at Warriors
Friday, Oct. 24: Jazz at Kings
Sunday, Oct. 26: Trail Blazers at Clippers
Monday, Oct. 27: Trail Blazers at Lakers
Wednesday, Oct. 29: Grizzlies at Suns

The first week or so of the 2025-26 NBA schedule is heavy on West Coast games, which makes it an ideal place for a basketball road trip right off the bat. Kick things off at the Warriors’ Chase Center, then make stops at the other three California NBA arenas: the Kings’ Golden 1 Center, the Clippers’ Intuit Dome and the Lakers’ Crypto.com Arena.

Finally, head into Arizona and finish off the tour at the Suns’ PHX Arena.

2) Pre-Thanksgiving in the Southwest

Monday, Nov. 17: Thunder at Pelicans
Thursday, Nov. 20: Hawks at Spurs
Friday, Nov. 21: Nuggets at Rockets
Saturday, Nov. 22: Grizzlies at Mavericks
Sunday, Nov. 23: Trail Blazers at Thunder

Check off five different NBA arenas in the Southwest on this one trip, starting in New Orleans with a visit to the Smoothie King Center and continuing on with stops at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Toyota Center in Houston and American Airlines Center in Dallas. Finish up at the home of the reigning champs, Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

Why so much lag time between the first and second games on this trip? Well, you’ll notice that we’re breaking one of our rules by traveling west from New Orleans to San Antonio (a distance of more than 500 miles), and then doubling back east to Houston. This is one of those times where we feel it’s worth it to not pass up a trip to NOLA. If you don’t mind cramming in a long drive, the Pelicans are also at home on Wednesday, Nov. 19, vs. the Nuggets.

3) East Coast circle tour

Friday, Dec. 19: 76ers at Knicks
Saturday, Dec. 20: Mavericks at 76ers
Sunday, Dec. 21: Raptors at Nets
Monday, Dec. 22: Pacers at Celtics

This is another rule-breaker, but at least the distances involved are far shorter. You’ll be zig-zagging between cities on the Eastern Seaboard, starting with the Knicks at Madison Square Garden and following with the Sixers at Xfinity Mobile Arena (newly renamed from Wells Fargo Center). Then, reverse course and head north again to take in the Nets at Barclays Center and finally, the Celtics at TD Garden.

Want to incorporate Christmas Day into these plans? Removing the opening stop at MSG and add it to the end, with Cavaliers-Knicks as the opening game of the Christmas Day slate.

4) The ‘Hello, 2026’ trip

Wednesday, Dec. 31: Suns at Cavaliers
Thursday, Jan. 1: Heat at Pistons
Friday, Jan. 2: Spurs at Pacers
Saturday, Jan. 3: Hornets at Bulls

Ring in the New Year and/or wind down your winter break with this four-games-in-four-days trip, with stops at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and finally, United Center in Chicago. Visit the home of the defending Eastern Conference champs and check off some nearby Midwest NBA arenas at the same time!

5) More of the Midwest

Thursday, Jan. 22: Bulls at Timberwolves
Friday, Jan. 23: Nuggets at Bucks
Saturday, Jan. 24: Celtics at Bulls
Sunday, Jan. 25: Kings at Pistons
Monday, Jan. 26: Magic at Cavaliers
Wednesday, Jan. 28: Knicks at Raptors

Did the trip above not satisfy your desire to see NBA basketball in the Midwest? Well, here’s one that covers most of the region’s arenas in one fast-paced week.

Begin in Minneapolis with a stop at Target Center, then work your way around the Great Lakes with stops at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, Chicago’s United Center, Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, Cleveland’s Rocket Arena and finally, Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

6) Spring break and hoops

Saturday, Feb. 28: Trail Blazers at Hornets
Sunday, March 1: Trail Blazers at Hawks
Tuesday, March 3: Wizards at Magic
Thursday, March 5: Nets at Heat

Wind your way through the Southeast with this trip, which starts at Spectrum Center in Charlotte and makes stops at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Kia Center in Orlando and finally, Kaseya Center in Miami.

You’ll arrive in Florida just in time for the start of spring break season, and MLB’s Grapefruit League spring training will be well underway as well if you’d like to combine hoops and hardball in one epic sports vacation.

7) The full-circle stretch run

Wednesday, April 1: Nuggets at Jazz
Friday, April 3: Pelicans at Kings
Sunday, April 5: Rockets at Warriors
Tuesday, April 7: Thunder at Lakers
Wednesday, April 8: Thunder at Clippers

The 2025-26 NBA regular season will be winding down as the calendar turns to April, so why not look to where we began this list of itineraries? The West Coast will again be a beehive of activity as contenders jostle for playoff position.

This trip starts in Salt Lake City with a visit to the Jazz’s Delta Center before finishing up with all four NBA arenas in California: Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Chase Center in San Francisco, Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and Intuit Dome in Inglewood. The latter two games will be against the defending NBA champion Thunder in what will likely be pivotal contests in the Western Conference playoff race.

Whether you decide to do one of the journeys above or craft your own itinerary, we’d love to hear about your travel schedule during the 2025-26 NBA season! Leave a comment for us below or email us with your own ideas.