The NBA’s Early Opening Day Game Was a Risk. But It Worked—and Detroit Loved It

DETROIT — Whether the Pistons and the Celtics knew it or not, they were guinea pigs for what the NBA hopes is the start of a new tradition.

The 2026–27 season tipped off at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit with a contest between the Eastern Conference’s top two seeds from last year. Neither team made it past the second round, though, straying from the league’s recent tradition in which each new season opens with the defending champions raising a banner.

The NBA’s reason for opening the season earlier in the day is fairly simple: To try something new.

After a wild offseason and an incredible Finals series between the Knicks and the Spurs, the league wants to capitalize with even more basketball on opening day. New York still raised its first banner in 53 years on Tuesday night; they just did it after the first course that was Pistons-Celtics. Then, the NBA’s opening day wraps up with the Spurs and the Thunder down in San Antonio.

The early start catered to international fans who didn’t have to stay up until the wee hours of the night to catch the first game of the year. It also allowed the home team to make the opener a full-day event. The Pistons, who won 60 games last season, held a block party that started at 10 a.m. ET and included a “blue carpet” the players were greeted on upon arrival.

Starting a game that early—especially during business hours on a Tuesday—the outcome was a toss up. The place was packed, though. Some fans took the day off of work or called it a day early, a decision that paid off for the Pistons faithful in the building. Detroit erased a 22-point deficit and went on a 23–0 run to take the lead in the fourth quarter and win the NBA’s first game of the season, 121–113, despite a 38-point outburst from Paul George in his first game as a Celtic.

“When you got out there for jump ball, you didn’t know what to expect just because of the timing of the game,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after his team’s 121–113 win. “But when we got out there, it was full. It was crowded and then you felt the energy in the second half, there was no doubt about it.”

The Tuesday matinee crowd popped when Cade Cunningham threw down a big slam late in the first quarter. Even bigger when Javonte Green nailed three three-pointers in the third as Detroit cut into Boston’s lead. Louder as Duncan Robinson caught fire. And the loudest when Green nailed another trey midway through the fourth quarter that gave Detroit the lead for good.

What the NBA hopes for is that its opening day turns into more of a national holiday, similar to what MLB has every March. Just one city experienced the early start on Tuesday, and if the league wishes to replicate the formula moving forward,.the first test will go down as a success.

“It was great, great energy,” Pistons All-Star center Jalen Duren said postgame, “especially with how the setup was coming in. It was like college, a football game day or whatever, having the fans all around us and having the hype. It felt like a playoff game. All the T-shirts, all the energy. It was amazing, man, I love these type of atmospheres.”

Obviously, the big comeback helped. George and the Celtics shushed the home crowd as they opened up a 22-point lead. No matter how it happened, the 3 p.m. weekday start was inconsequential. It worked, and Bickerstaff is surprised the league hasn’t tried to do it sooner.

“To me, it’s always been fascinating that [baseball] is the only sport that I could think of that regularly would have weekday games and middle of the day games and still draw,” he said before the game. “I do believe that basketball fans will do the same thing; they just got to get accustomed to it because it is so different.

“But the idea of spreading the game of basketball throughout an entire day is a great idea. There’s so many markets across the world that want to see NBA basketball. A lot of times, because of the 7 p.m. tips, they’re sleeping. Can’t get the opportunity to see it. So to be able to get the excitement of opening day around the world, it’s just another ingenious move by the league that continues to find new ways to reach its fans and fans across the globe.”

Can the NBA replicate what MLB has? That remains to be seen. Much of the draw of baseball is the setting it provides. Grab a hot dog, get outside, sing the seventh-inning stretch. But what the 2026–27 opener provided was a start. A tiny sample size that showcased the idea could be reproduced in some way, shape or form. Maybe it ticked off some folks who were out and about, living their everyday lives and putting food on the table as many do on a Tuesday afternoon.

If an early game gets scheduled, though, fans will go. Over 20,000 fans walked into LCA, a sellout for what was an exciting opening day matchup. The idea of tipping off a new season early with a game not involving the defending champion was questionable at first, but only because it veered from the norm.

The early game on opening day worked, and the NBA may be on the precipice of establishing another full-day holiday for hoops fans, just like it has on Christmas Day.

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