If there’s one thing everyone loves doing at the end of August, it’s figuring out their plans for January. In this series, we are breaking down the Sixers 2026-27 schedule into chunks to try to preview how each stretch of the season will go. Part 1 is already available here.
The second quarter of the Sixers’ season starts with an interesting back-to-back before a long potential break. They’ll host a very young Memphis Grizzlies team on Dec. 1 before Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets come to town
on the 2nd. Likely because it’s a back-to-back, this is a rare Sixers-Nuggets game that is not on national television, so there will be no player participation policy ramifications for anyone unavailable for it.
How the Sixers fare in the NBA Cup will determine their next game after that as there are 10 off days built into the schedule for the Knockout Round. The Sixers have yet to advance that far since the Cup’s creation, so they’ve been like the majority of the league that’s had two consolation games scheduled during this time. As discussed in Part 1, the Sixers will have a quite a gauntlet to run through to break that trend this season.
Normal play will resume on the 12th when the Sixers start a home-and-home with the Orlando Magic, wrapping up their three games with Orlando on the season. They’ll host a couple of Texan teams in the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets with a trip to Charlotte sandwiched in the middle before their yearly Disney on Ice December road trip.
That of course starts with a Christmas Day showdown in L.A. against the Lakers. Most expected the Celtics’ to be the Sixers’ Christmas opponent, but it’s not a huge shock they made the day centered around LeBron. They’ll also face the L.A. Clippers, Sacramento Kings, and Phoenix Suns while out on the West Coast before swinging by Milwaukee to finish the trip. It’s also worth noting that those Kings and Suns games are a back-to-back.
Six of their next seven games will come at home with a wide range of quality in opponents. They’ll have to deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves, but they’ll also get the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards in that stretch. Interestingly enough, that Wizards game is on national television, so the league is curious what that team will look like with its mix of young and old, new talent.
This stretch of the season will be wrapped up with an MLK Day matinee in Atlanta. It’ll be the second time they see the Hawks in as many weeks, before heading back home to take on the Indiana Pacers for another back-to-back. Indiana will be another Eastern Conference team the Sixers will have played all their games against before the halfway point of the season.
Those 21 games are probably an easier stretch of schedule than the first leg. They play more teams that aren’t expected to be playoff teams, but teams like the Grizzlies and Wizards could be feistier than expected. The West Coast trip will be a good durability test. Playing five games in seven nights, the majority of them across the country, will give guys like Tryese Maxey and Jaylen Brown their chance to show their regular season value. It’s not the hardest stretch of Western Conference teams to go through, but the Kings are the only cupcake in there.
The ensuing homestand should be an equally fun response. Two of the harder teams in the West will be coming through this time. On top of that the Sixers will be seeing the Hawks and the Heat again, two Southeastern teams that could be vying for position with them in the East.
Like the first stretch of the season, the travel is once again pretty balanced, with a lot of off days coming before their first longest road trip of the season. As far as quality in opponents goes, it looks like an easier stretch than the first on paper, but they don’t play the games on paper.
12/1: vs. Grizzlies
12/2: vs. Nuggets (B2B)
12/12: vs. Magic (Cup Break)
12/14: @Magic
12/17: vs. Mavericks
12/21: @Hornets
12/23: vs. Rockets
12/25: @Lakers (Christmas)
12/27: @Clippers
12/29: @Kings
12/30: @Suns (B2B)
1/1: @Bucks
1/ 4: vs. Hawks
1/ 6: vs. Thunder
1/ 8: vs. Heat
1/ 10:@Raptors
1/ 12: vs. Wizards
1/ 14: vs. Nets
1/16: vs. Timberwolves
1/18:@Hawks (MLK Day)
1/19: vs. Pacers (B2B)
