SAN FRANCISCO — A change to the NBA national broadcast ecosystem will have an impact on the Warriors’ 2025-26 season.

Golden State will have three Tuesday home games – matchups against the Clippers on Oct. 28, Oklahoma City on Dec. 2 and Portland on Jan. 13 – start at 8 p.m. Pacific time

That’s an hour later than usual for local games, and something that has caused a stir among fans on social media.

“Are 8 p.m. local starts new this season? Wild timing,” one fan wrote on X/Twitter.

When reached by the Bay Area News Group via email, the NBA’s league office said that it had to work around local television news broadcasts and other syndicated shows when creating the schedule, as these games will be available as free, over-the-air programs that will include a 30-minute pregame show.

The games will be part of NBC’s new “Coast 2 Coast” doubleheader series in the network’s return to broadcasting the NBA after a 23-year hiatus.

The first game of the doubleheader will begin at 5 p.m. Pacific and will include teams from the Eastern or Central time zones. The second leg of the doubleheader will start at 8 p.m. and feature teams from the Pacific and Mountain time zones.

According to an NBC news release, viewers on the West Coast will not be able to watch the East Coast game over the air, and vice versa.

If fans in those markets wish to watch the games from the opposite coast, a Peacock subscription is required.

In total, 40 total games on NBC will be shown over-the-air on weeknights. This is a massive increase from last season, when five Christmas Day games on ABC were the only weeknight, over-the-air NBA broadcasts all season.

The league office also highlighted that starting games on time is a point of emphasis, as the NBA has been panned for its late tipoff times in recent years. NBC, which has been the local provider for Warriors games locally since 2011, will be the only company allowed to broadcast nationally on Tuesday, taking over the slot long held by TNT.

NBC has long been the home of the NFL’s Sunday Night Football, which traditionally kicks off at around 5:45 p.m. Pacific during the fall.

Chase Center was the location for a test NBA broadcast featuring announcer Noah Eagle, podcaster Austin Rivers and others during a closed-to-the-public Summer League game on July 8.

Aside from the three 8 p.m. games, Golden State, which has a team-record 34 national broadcasts, will have four other games on NBC.

The Warriors will have 10 on Amazon Prime, seven on ESPN, six on ABC and four on NBC offshoot Peacock.

Golden State’s season begins on NBC at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 in Los Angeles against the Lakers.

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