On Thursday, the NBA announced its schedule for the 2026-27 season. Here is the full 82-game slate for the Celtics:
Here is the Celtics’ 2026-27 schedule.
Jaylen Brown makes his TD Garden return on January 21. pic.twitter.com/JjEQHZa2SL
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) August 13, 2026
The Celtics will play an additional four preseason games, beginning Oct. 8 in Cleveland against the Cavaliers. They’ll then return home for two games at TD Garden, facing the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 10 and the Charlotte Hornets on Oct. 14. The preseason slate concludes Oct. 16 in Philadelphia with a second matchup against the 76ers.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the key dates on the Celtics’ 2026-27 schedule, which features 16 back-to-backs, approximately 41,000 miles of travel, and 27 nationally televised games.
October 20 @ Pistons, 3:00 P.M.
That is not a typo.
The Celtics and Pistons will play the first game of the 2026-27 season on Tuesday, October 20 … at 3 p.m.
A 3 p.m. game on a Tuesday is unprecedented and, quite frankly, bizarre.
Why kick off the season in the middle of the workday? And why not have the defending NBA champions play the first game of the season in primetime?
I can see the appeal of having a little appetizer before the Knicks vs. 76ers and Spurs vs. Thunder later that night, but I’m not sure I love it.
As for the game itself, though, it’s a good one. It’s a meeting between the Eastern Conference’s top two seeds from a season ago, headlined by superstars Jayson Tatum and Cade Cunningham. Both teams are also coming off disappointing playoff exits last spring.
October 23 vs. Knicks, 7:00 P.M.
The Celtics won’t have to wait long to get their first crack at the reigning champion New York Knicks, as Boston will host New York in its home opener on Friday, October 23.
It will be the home debut of Mitchell Robinson against the team he spent the first eight seasons of his career with, playing an integral role in New York winning its first NBA championship in 53 years. Boston will also get its first look at Paul George and Mike Conley in Celtics green.
The game will be the Celtics’ first at TD Garden since their Game 7 loss to the 76ers in the first round of the postseason last year, kicking off the new season with a fun early test.
All-time, the Celtics are 19-12 in home openers at TD Garden/Fleet Center and 3-1 under head coach Joe Mazzulla.
November 15 vs. Mavericks, 6:00 PM
It certainly wasn’t the headliner last season, as Cooper Flagg’s TD Garden debut quickly took a back seat to Jayson Tatum’s return to the Celtics’ lineup, 298 days after tearing his right Achilles tendon. But Flagg’s first game in Boston certainly lived up to the hype.
“I’ve never heard a road player get a cheer like that in Boston,” then-Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “They tend to go the other way.”
The No. 1 pick in last year’s NBA Draft, Flagg, a Newport, Maine, native, finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists and a steal in his lone trip to the Garden last season. And while all the attention was on No. 0 in green, there were still plenty of No. 32 Flagg jerseys in the crowd and loud ovations whenever the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year made a play.
Growing up a Celtics fan just over 200 miles from Boston, Flagg has a unique connection to the area, and that was evident in the Garden last season. Thousands of fans made the trip down from Maine to see the hometown kid play in Boston, creating an atmosphere that didn’t go unnoticed.
Massive ovation for Cooper Flagg as he is introduced in the starting lineup pic.twitter.com/X7bg2KShnR
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) March 7, 2026
Flagg will get another chance to play in front of those fans on November 15. This time, he’ll be joined by Kyrie Irving, who missed all of last season while recovering from a torn ACL. The reception for Irving, to put it mildly, should be quite a bit different from the one Flagg received.
December 14 vs. Wizards, 7:30 PM
Another local kid making his homecoming, this time 2026 No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa. It’s pretty fascinating to think that the last two No. 1 picks have both hailed from New England, with the aforementioned Flagg going first in 2025.
Dybantsa, who was selected first overall by the Washington Wizards, grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts, becoming the first Massachusetts-born player ever selected No. 1 overall. Before becoming the top pick, Dybantsa returned to the Davis K-8 School in Brockton, where he first told a teacher he wanted to play professional basketball, and officially declared for the draft.
The 19-year-old will make his TD Garden debut on December 14, just over 20 miles from where he grew up. The Celtics and Wizards will meet again two days later on December 16, in a mini baseball-like series.
The Wizards, as a team, should be fun to watch, too.
December 25 vs. Heat, 2:30 PM
Last season, the Celtics weren’t featured on Christmas Day for the first time since 2015.
After a year off, they are back on the NBA’s marquee day, hosting the Miami Heat in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s TD Garden debut as a member of the Heat.
Aside from the buzz that comes with playing on Christmas, the Antetokounmpo factor adds another fun layer to this matchup.
By now, everybody knows the Celtics were among the finalists for the two-time MVP in a package centered around Jaylen Brown, but ended up losing the sweepstakes to the Heat. Instead, Boston settled for a far less glamorous trade with Philadelphia for Brown, receiving Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks.
Which leads to another thought: I thought the Celtics would play the 76ers on Christmas. Instead, the league went with the LeBron James storyline, having James return to Los Angeles to face the team he spent the last eight seasons with for the first time as a 76er.
Would that have been the case if James hadn’t signed with Philadelphia?
January 21 vs. 76ers, 7:30 PM
This is the most intriguing game on the slate: Jaylen Brown’s return to Boston for the first time as a visitor.
The obituary has been talked about all summer.
Selected with the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Brown spent 10 seasons in Boston and developed into one of the most accomplished players in franchise history. During his tenure, he earned five All-Star selections and two All-NBA honors, but most notably, he was named both Eastern Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP while helping lead the Celtics to Banner 18 in 2024.
He leaves Boston ranked 10th in franchise history with 13,474 regular-season points and seventh in playoff scoring. His 674 regular-season games played rank 15th in franchise history, while his 142 postseason appearances rank seventh.
It was an abrupt end to an illustrious career in Celtics green.
Brown was coming off the best season of his career, averaging career highs of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists — a stat line previously reached only by Larry Bird (three times) and John Havlicek (1970-71) in Celtics history. He guided the Celtics to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference while Jayson Tatum rehabbed from a torn Achilles.
Then, things went south quickly.
The Celtics blew a 3-1 lead for the first time in franchise history, and shortly after, Brown’s name began to surface in trade talks. Brown said he felt disrespected by the way those talks played out.
Now, he’s a 76er.
His trade to the City of Brotherly Love opened the door for the eventual signing of LeBron James, making the 76ers one of the top favorites to win the Eastern Conference.
The tribute for Brown, his first game back at TD Garden, LeBron’s presence and the new-look 76ers will make for a fascinating night.
I’m kind of shocked the league waited until January for this one. The first meeting between the two teams comes November 10 in Philadelphia. The final two games of the season series will be February 7 in Philadelphia and March 7 in Boston.
March 14 @ Knicks, 12:00 PM
The Celtics won’t make their first trip to Madison Square Garden until March 14, with their second game at MSG coming on April 4.
Any game against the Knicks is worth circling, but especially one this late in the season when the playoffs start to come into focus. As the reigning champions, the Knicks are the measuring stick in the Eastern Conference.
Beyond that, Mitchell Robinson, who, as mentioned earlier, spent the first eight seasons of his NBA career with New York, will make his return to Madison Square Garden. He was the longest-tenured member of the Knicks by three years before leaving for Boston this summer, and he’ll likely receive his championship ring before the game.
It will also be Jayson Tatum’s second game at MSG since tearing his Achilles in Game 4 of the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals. Tatum admitted last season that he was anxious about returning to the arena for the first time. Will he have cleared that mental hurdle after getting the first game out of the way, or will some of those feelings linger?
March 24 vs. Spurs, 7:30 PM
Victor Wembanyama’s only trip to TD Garden. Enough said.
