Memorial Day weekend sports guide: NBA and NHL playoffs, Indy 500, Premier League, WNBA

With the extended holiday weekend comes a wall-to-wall sports slate.

There’s something for just about everyone across the next four days. The NBA and NHL continue their anticipated conference finals from the East to the West. MLB and the WNBA heat up their spring seasons with primetime Saturday spots. The French Open begins, the English Premier League concludes and the Indianapolis 500 burns rubber.

Here’s your guide to the Memorial Day weekend action. Not everything was able to make the cut due to sheer volume, but that doesn’t make any other choices unworthy of watching. Daily lineups are sorted by start time. All listings are ET.

Friday viewer guide

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NBC is free over the air. All ESPN networks, including ABC, are available with an ESPN Unlimited subscription.

NHL Western Conference finals: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Colorado Avalanche

Game 2: Friday at 8 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday at 8 p.m.

The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022; the Golden Knights followed with the 2023 title. Vegas took the opener on Wednesday in a 4-2 road upset. Game 2 is back in Colorado, while Sunday’s Game 3 shifts to Sin City.

NBA Western Conference finals: Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs

Game 3: Friday at 8:30 p.m.
Game 4: Sunday at 8 p.m.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the rare back-to-back MVP. Victor Wembanyama is the intergalactic future. Defending champion OKC descends into hostile territory as a tied series hits San Antonio.

Saturday viewer guide

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*Depending on local market

ABC, CBS and Fox are free over the air. CBS is also on Paramount+, and Fox is also on Fox One.

Minnesota Lynx at Chicago Sky

Saturday at 1 p.m.

In 2025, CBS aired the WNBA’s first primetime regular-season games on broadcast television. The network went all in for 2026 with 20 telecasts. Minnesota has the pugnacious Courtney Williams and rookie phenom Olivia Miles. Chicago counters with longstanding stars Skylar Diggins and Natasha Cloud. Later that night at 8 p.m., CBS doubles up with Kelsey Plum’s Los Angeles Sparks against A’ja Wilson’s Las Vegas Aces.

NHL Eastern Conference finals: Carolina Hurricanes vs. Montreal Canadiens

Game 2: Saturday at 7 p.m.
Game 3: Monday at 8 p.m.

Carolina bursted into the playoffs with two convincing sweeps. Montreal just skated by with back-to-back Game 7 breakthroughs. Naturally, the Habs easily won Game 1 on Thursday night. The Canadiens are assuming more than three decades of Canada’s Stanley Cup-less anguish. Let’s see how the Canes respond to their first playoff L.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers

Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

This is Fox’s “Baseball Night in America” slot. Both teams are near the top of the National League, and they met in last year’s NLCS, which the Dodgers swept in four games. Milwaukee’s faithful will air their grievances to Shohei Ohtani and the reigning champs. Due to Fox’s regional splits, some markets in the Midwest get the St. Louis Cardinals at the Cincinnati Reds instead.

NBA Eastern Conference finals: New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers

Game 3: Saturday at 8 p.m.
Game 4: Monday at 8 p.m.

Game 1 was an undisputed classic. Down 22 points with less than eight minutes on the clock, Jalen Brunson and the Knicks pulled off the second-largest fourth-quarter playoff comeback of the play-by-play tracking era. New York took Thursday’s follow-up thanks to a brilliant Josh Hart.

Cleveland is back home for Games 3 and 4, with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden scrambling for rebuttal. For what it’s worth, the Cavs went down 0-2 in the prior round and still found a will to advance.

Sunday viewer guide

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French Open

Singles, first round: Sunday and Monday at 6 a.m.

To the clay we go. Singles play commences from Roland Garros, with a featured match on TNT at 2 p.m. The 2025 men’s final was an all-timer — a two-set recovery, three saved match points and more than five hours of sweltering tension. Carlos Alcaraz, the victor, will miss the 2026 tournament with a wrist injury. Jannik Sinner, the fateful runner-up, pursues his career Grand Slam. Last year’s women’s match was also a blockbuster. Coco Gauff defends her title; Aryna Sabalenka seeks redemption.

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French Open draw: Jannik Sinner’s path to a career Grand Slam and quarters of opportunity

The second Grand Slam of the year has one overwhelming favorite on the men’s side, and a remarkable slate of contenders on the women’s.

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Everton

Sunday at 11 a.m.

This is the final day of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign. Tottenham is fighting to avoid unthinkable relegation. Spurs face 12th-place Everton at home in what should be quite a scene. They’re two points up on West Ham, which hosts 14th-place Leeds at the same time.

Liverpool vs. Brentford

Sunday at 11 a.m.

Arsenal takes Championship Sunday having clinched its first league title in 22 years. Liverpool, the prior champions, tries to stay in the table’s top five. Arne Slot’s side has been through it this year — the Reds lost six of seven Premier League matches during a stretch from September to November, and have just one point in their last three outings. They’ll need to handle business with the Bees to remain atop Bournemouth and return to the Champions League.

Division I women’s lacrosse championship

Sunday at noon

North Carolina beat Northwestern to win it all last season. Both return to the Friday semifinals on opposite ends of the bracket. The Tar Heels tangle with Maryland, the NCAA’s most decorated program. And the Wildcats draw upstart Johns Hopkins, which goes for its first-ever title. The Sunday finale is at Martin Stadium, Northwestern’s home digs along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Indianapolis 500

Sunday at 12:45 p.m. (pre-race coverage begins at 10 a.m.)

“Start … your … engines!” More than 300,000 spectators show up to watch the annual 200-lap vortex around Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Álex Palou, the incumbent winner, sits in pole position. We’ll begin with a green flag and end with a checkered one, while celebratory milk showers await whoever reaches victory lane.

Dallas Wings at New York Liberty

Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

Paige Bueckers. Azzi Fudd. Breanna Stewart. Ellie the Elephant! NBC’s studio program “WNBA Showtime,” which features luminaries Sue Bird and Cheryl Miller, makes its on-site debut. This is a fantastic matchup between two of the top-scoring offenses in the WNBA.

Monday viewer guide

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Division I men’s lacrosse championship

Monday at 1 p.m.

The semifinals are Saturday, when No. 1 Princeton faces Duke and No. 2 Notre Dame goes up against Syracuse. The Orange are the only 2025 semifinalist to return again, and they advanced by just three combined goals in the previous two rounds. Monday’s title shot goes down at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va.

New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals

Monday at 3:40 p.m.

There’s a full lineup of MLB games to mark the federal holiday, but Yankees-Royals is the national TV offering on ESPN. The pinstriped Yanks are launching home runs behind slugger Aaron Judge and ascendant Ben Rice. The host Royals are struggling, but they have a dynamic star in shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.

Monday night is the final leg of this marathon, with Eastern Conference finals on Montreal’s ice and Cleveland’s hardwood. From there, time to process all we’ve seen and then get some sleep … before the machine starts whirring again come Tuesday.

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