Take a look at the beginning of the New York Knicks’ 2026–27 regular-season schedule which was revealed on Thursday, and you’ll notice something: each of their first 14 games is against an Eastern Conference foe.
Their first game against a team from the Western Conference doesn’t come until November 19, when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves.
For those Knick fans who hate staying up late because they have to wake up early for work—or simply because they're early birds—there’s some good news. It will be quite some time before New York has a later start time for one of its games during its championship defense.
Normal nights of rest for fans to start the season
The Knicks will play 22 games in their 2026–27 season before they even have a game scheduled to start after 8:00 p.m. ET. Of those first 21 contests, 14 have start times before 8:00.
Their first game later than 8:00 doesn’t come until December 12, nearly two months after the regular season begins. That game is in Miami, against the Heat, and scheduled for 8:30 (which still isn’t all that late).
The Knicks’ first game with a start time of 9:00 doesn’t come until December 30. The one stretch all season that will really challenge the fans who don’t like staying up late comes from January 4–8. Those are the last three games of a six-game West Coast trip, and they all begin at 10:00 against the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, and Sacramento Kings.
Normally, there are at least a couple games out west with 10:30 starts. This year, the Knicks face only one. That will come on March 10, when New York heads to the Intuit Dome to take on the Los Angeles Clippers. The following night, they won't travel far as they go to Crypto.com Arena to face the LA Lakers at 10:00.
For those who believe earlier is better, the Knicks have 18 games with a 7:00 start and another 10 with tip-offs scheduled before then. That’s slightly more than one-third of their regular-season schedule, and those 28 games are the same amount they had last year that began 7:00 or earlier.
So, at least for the first couple of months of the regular season, fans won’t have to make that extra cup of coffee on their lunch break. You can get to bed at a fairly normal time after watching Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and others exhibit their basketball excellence.
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