will close its 2026 NBA preseason coverage with Nuggets Vs Lakers on Friday, Oct. 16, when the Denver Nuggets visit the Los Angeles Lakers at 10:30 p.m. ET. The game will air on and is presented by Wayfair.
For fans of the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, the matchup is the last preseason stop before turns to the regular season the following week. Ryan Ruocco will handle play-by-play alongside Doris Burke, with Angel Gray reporting from the broadcast.
That final preseason telecast matters because it sits right on the seam between two parts of ’s NBA calendar: the end of the 2026 NBA preseason and the start of coverage of its milestone 25th NBA regular season. is set to tip off that regular-season coverage on Wednesday, Oct. 21 and Thursday, Oct. 22.
The timing also leaves one question hanging over the schedule: why this game, and why this night, to finish the preseason run? has put the matchup on a national platform with a full broadcast team, which makes the choice look less like a filler date and more like a deliberate handoff to the season that follows.
For Ruocco, the assignment gives him the final preseason game before shifts into the regular season. For viewers, it is the last chance to catch the network’s preseason package before the calendar moves on to October 21 and October 22, when the next phase begins.
