It's corny, but it is true: to be the best, you have to beat the best. The Cleveland Cavaliers will have their first opportunity to do just that on Jan. 19 when they take on the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder.
The NBA released the full schedule for the 2025-26 season on Thursday. There are a number of marquee dates that Cavaliers fans will be circling on the calendar.
Apart from their meeting against LeBron James in Cleveland, no regular-season matchup will quite hold the same gravity, or have the same allure than the first date against the Thunder. That is their measuring stick game.
The Cavaliers will head into 2025-26 with plenty of ambitions regarding the type of team they can be. Holding homecourt against the defending NBA champions can serve to further inspire what should already be a motivated group.
January showdown offers Cavaliers a statement opportunity
The Cavaliers will make 24 appearances on nationally televised games during the 2025-26 season. Cleveland is clearly expected to be one of the best teams in the NBA next season.
Their Jan. 19 clash against the Thunder will be one of those games. As will the rematch between these two sides on Feb. 22.
The first tilt is the one that really sets the stage for them, though. That is the confidence booster. That is the game you can reference every time the team needs motivation. In the case of all of those, that result on Jan. 19 needs to be a victory.
There will be no excuses for the Cavaliers. Assuming all goes well, Darius Garland should be back and ramped up by then after successfully recovering from toe surgery.
It was a clever play on the NBA's part to allow both teams an opportunity to be healthy for each of their clashes. They know just as well as everybody else does that this matchup is a potential preview of the NBA Finals. There would be no dreaming of putting the date before Garland is ready.
The Cavaliers split the season series with the Thunder in the 2024-25 campaign, with both teams winning on their homecourt. However, Oklahoma City's 134-114 victory on Jan. 16 did look a lot more convincing than Cleveland's 129-122 win on Jan. 8.
Jan. 19, 2026 will provide an opportunity to make a loud statement with everyone watching. A decisive result will let the world know the Cavaliers are not to be taken lightly as championship contenders in 2025-26.