Why is Celtics-Pistons starting so early on Tuesday?

Tonight, NBA basketball is back, dearest readers! Woo! Oh, happy day!

But wait ... what's that on the schedule? The Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons are officially starting the NBA season with an opening matchup of a glitzy tripleheader at 3:00 p.m. Eastern

? Uh, that's odd and certainly not normal. I can't remember NBA teams ever playing in the afternoon when the game is taking place in the United States.

Why are the Celtics and Pistons starting so early, exactly? As ESPN's Dave McMenamin explained back in August, the NBA is experimenting with this early start time to see if it could become a long-standing tradition if an audience flocks to the midday matchup. Surely, it also has to be related to seeing how events like the 2026 World Cup, which

had many afternoon games in the U.S., resonated with folks here:

Dave McMenamin on why the NBA scheduled a 3 PM game for Opening Night:

"I've talked to people around the league today and they're like we could sense the excitement for the NBA right now. So let's experiment with this thing. They talked with executives at NBC, and it was kind of… pic.twitter.com/azbvsOHWsQ

— Oh No He Didn't 🤯 (@ohnohedidnt24) August 11, 2026

That seems pretty simple enough to me. If sports like soccer can tap into an afternoon American audience, then surely so can NBA basketball ... right? It's not a bad bet to make. I'll be curious to see the viewership numbers for Celtics-Pistons after the fact because it could really become an opening-day tradition like the league envisions.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why is Celtics-Pistons starting so early on Tuesday?