NBA Pick'em Pool for 2026-27 — free for friends
Basketball never stops long enough for a weekly sheet of every game — there are about fifty a week. An NBA pick'em pool on Sportpoolz keeps it to the week's national-TV games: pick the winners, each game locks at tip-off, and the standings update as the final buzzers go. Free for your group, with no money changing hands.
Free forever — no credit card, no money changing hands.
How an NBA pick'em pool works
Each week runs Monday to Sunday. The pool's games for the week are the ones on national TV — about ten in a normal week, spread across most nights — and you pick the winner of each, straight up. A correct pick is one point whatever the margin, a wrong one is nothing, and nobody is ever eliminated.
Because NBA games tip off almost every night, you do not have to make the whole week's picks on Monday. Each game locks at its own tip-off, so you can pick Tuesday's games on Tuesday and Saturday's on Saturday, with the week's schedule laid out day by day.
What the manager sets
- Which weeks the pool covers. A pool can start with opening week or any week after it, so a group that forms in November is not playing catch-up.
- How many members it takes — anywhere from 2 to 30.
- How weekly winners and the season champion are recognised, and how a level week is settled. The default tiebreaker is the total points in the last game on the week's slate.
Key dates for the 2026-27 season
- First Monday–Sunday week: October 19–25, 2026
- Opening night: Tuesday, October 20, 2026
- NBA Cup group play: October 30 – November 27, 2026
- Christmas Day, five games: Friday, December 25, 2026
- All-Star break: February 19–21, 2027
- Regular season ends: Sunday, April 11, 2027
That is 25 Monday–Sunday weeks from opening week to the last day of the regular season, and a pool can cover all of them or any stretch you choose.
A sample week
Here is how one week of a ten-game slate can play out.
- Monday: the week opens with ten national-TV games across six nights. You pick the two on Tuesday before tip-off and leave the rest for later.
- Wednesday to Saturday: you pick each night's games before they start. One you forgot tips off without a pick and simply scores nothing.
- Sunday night: the last game ends. You went 7–2 on the nine you picked, so 7 points for the week, added to your season total.
- If you finished level at the top of the week, the closer guess at that Sunday game's combined score breaks the tie.
Common questions
Why not pick every NBA game?
Fifty games a week is a chore, not a pool, and most groups stop opening the sheet by December. The national-TV games are the ones people actually watch and argue about, and ten a week keeps everyone's picks current.
Can a game end in a tie?
No — NBA games go to overtime until someone wins, so every pick is either right or wrong. Ties only matter in the standings, which is what the tiebreaker is for.
What happens on a week with fewer games, like All-Star week?
The week's slate is simply shorter. Every correct pick is still one point, so a short week counts for less in the season standings rather than being skipped.
Be ready the day it opens
Sportpoolz is free. Create your account now, and starting your pool takes a couple of minutes once it opens.