Why There Are No NBA Games Scheduled for Election Day

All 30 NBA teams were in action Monday night, a monster 15-game slate that saw the Pacers nearly beat the Hawks with just six players, Draymond Green get ejected in a Warriors win and the Grizzlies suffer their first loss of the season.

On Tuesday night, there are no games. For the fourth time in the last five years, the NBA will not play on Election Day.

“No games have been scheduled for Election Day as the league will encourage fans and the broader NBA community to make a plan to vote and to participate in the civic process,” the league wrote in a press release in August. “All 30 teams will be in action on the day before Election Day (Monday, Nov. 2).”

Tuesday is, indeed, Election Day in the United States. There is much to be decided during this year’s midterms, as 36 states will elect new governors and nearly all 50 states will be voting on state-level legislative bodies.

It’s one of the rare days on the 2026-27 season calendar with no NBA games. Historically, the NBA doesn’t have games on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, which is the case again this year. Along with Nov. 3 (Election Day), Nov. 26 (Thanksgiving) and Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve), the NBA won’t be in action this season from Feb. 19 to Feb. 24 (All-Star break) and April 10, the penultimate day of the regular season.

Other leagues around the U.S. will play games on Tuesday. There are 11 games scheduled in the NHL as well as two Mid-American Conference games in college football: Ohio-Akron and Buffalo-Miami (OH).

History of the NBA not playing on Election Day

It all began in 2022 when the league announced for the first time it would not hold games on Election Day. That year marked midterm elections during Joe Biden’s years as president.

“The scheduling decision came out of the NBA family’s focus on promoting nonpartisan civic engagement and encouraging fans to make a plan to vote during midterm elections,” the league said in a 2022 statement.

Although that year was the first time the league held no games on Election Day, 14 teams had previously used their arena or practice facility as a polling location in 2020. Additionally, many coaches and players have been outspoken about voting. In 2024, many around the league wore warm-up shirts that read “VOTE” leading up to Election Day. The NBA has not held games on Election Day in 2022, ’23, ’24 and now ’26.

“It’s unusual. We don’t usually change the schedule for an external event,” James Cadogan, the executive director of the NBA’s social justice coalition, said in 2022. “But voting and Election Day are obviously unique and incredibly important to our democracy.”

The NBA did hold six games last year (Tuesday, Nov. 4) in what was an off-year Election Day that included two governor races and mostly local elections. The league plans to continue sitting out games on Election Day in years of midterm or Presidential elections.

When does the NBA return to action?

The league gets right back into the swing of things Wednesday night with a packed 14-game slate. All but two teams (Orlando and Golden State) will be in action:

76ers at Pistons, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Hawks at Wizards, 7 p.m. ET
Bucks at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. ET
Hornets at Nets, 7:30 p.m. ET
Bulls at Knicks, 7:30 p.m. ET
Pacers at Grizzlies, 8 p.m. ET
Jazz at Pelicans, 8 p.m. ET
Cavaliers at Thunder, 8 p.m. ET
Timberwolves at Rockets, 8:30 p.m. ET
Raptors at Nuggets, 9 p.m. ET
Trail Blazers at Suns, 9 p.m. ET
Mavericks at Spurs, 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Lakers at Kings, 10 p.m. ET
Heat at Clippers, 10:30 p.m. ET

PODCAST 🎧: Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.

Add us as a preferred source on Google