Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) shoots for a layup while under pressure from Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 6, 2024. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Boston is scheduled to receive its championship rings on Oct. 22, with rival New York Knicks also expected to attend the celebration.
The NBA schedule for next season was announced on Thursday, with the opening game being between the Celtics and the Knicks, the game in which the NBA champion will receive a ring and hoist the 18th championship pennant.
The second game of the season will see Minnesota visit the Los Angeles Lakers in a reunion of Olympic gold medalists pitting the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards against the Lakers’ LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The league announced 1,200 of the 1,230 games on Thursday. The remaining 30 games will be scheduled in December depending on how teams perform in the NBA Cup. The schedule for those tournaments was released on Tuesday, and among the matchups is one that will see Klay Thompson return to Golden State as a member of the Dallas Mavericks.
Several regular-season games have already been announced, including Miami facing Washington in Mexico City on Nov. 2 and home-and-away games between the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers in Paris on Jan. 23 and 25. Spurs star and French native Victor Ouenbanyama will be the centerpiece.
Christmas Day
Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio head to New York to begin a five-game Christmas series, followed by Minnesota vs Dallas, Philadelphia vs Boston, Lakers vs Golden State and Denver vs Phoenix.
It will be the Spurs’ first Christmas Day game since 2016 and the Timberwolves’ first since 2017. It will also be the first seven seasons that Milwaukee will not play a Christmas Day game.
A total of 30 teams will participate
This season, all 30 teams are scheduled to play over four nights starting November 4, with new games starting every 15 minutes from 7pm to 10:30pm ET.
Other dates when all teams will play: February 12, April 11 (the penultimate day of the regular season) and April 13 (final day of the regular season).
Election Day
For the third consecutive year, no NBA games will be played on Election Day, Nov. 5, and the league said it “wants to continue encouraging our fans and the entire NBA community to make a plan to vote and participate in civic engagement. As part of this effort, the NBA will share key resources from voting organizations and highlight civic engagement in each team’s market.”
Other NBA holidays this season are Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving), Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve), Feb. 17-19 (the day off after All-Star Weekend, which begins Feb. 14), and April 12. Depending on how the schedule is set for teams that do not advance to the NBA Cup semifinals, December could see another dark day.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
On Jan. 20, seven games will be played as part of the league’s annual celebration of the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: Dallas vs. Charlotte, Detroit vs. Houston, Minnesota vs. Memphis, Atlanta vs. New York, Phoenix vs. Cleveland, Boston vs. Golden State and Utah vs. New Orleans.
Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, will host the holiday game for the 22nd time in the past 23 seasons.
KD returns to college
Kevin Durant may be able to play at least one more game at his college’s home turf.
The Spurs are scheduled to play two games in Austin, Texas, this season: on Feb. 20 against Durant and Phoenix, and on Feb. 21 against Detroit.
Durant spent one collegiate season at Texas, scoring 30 points in the Longhorns’ final home game on February 28, 2007.
The schedule means Detroit will not travel to San Antonio this season, as the Pistons are 1-13 in their past 14 trips to the Spurs’ home arena.
LeBron’s 40th birthday
This will be LeBron James’ 22nd season in the NBA, tying him with Vince Carter for the longest NBA season.
And he’ll be taking his 40th birthday off.
The Los Angeles Lakers do not play on Dec. 30. They are off at home against Sacramento (his first NBA opponent when he was just 18) on Dec. 28 and then at home against Cleveland (his first NBA team) on Dec. 31.
James is 5-5 in birthday games.
INTUIT Dome Opener
The Los Angeles Clippers’ first official game at their new home, the Intuit Dome, will be on October 23rd against the Phoenix Suns.
The Clippers have shared their arena with the Los Angeles Lakers since the 1999-2000 season. It wasn’t uncommon for the Clippers and Lakers to play home games on the same day, with one team playing in the afternoon and the other in the evening, after swapping courts and quickly cleaning the building.
However, there are at least eight days this season when the Clippers and Lakers will both play at home, with all but one of those days being simultaneous: Jan. 11, Jan. 13, Jan. 15, Jan. 21, Feb. 6, Feb. 8, March 18 and April 4.
Super Bowl Sunday
Once again, the NBA day’s action will end well before the Super Bowl kickoff.
The NFL Finals will be held on February 9th, with three games scheduled: Charlotte vs. Detroit (1 p.m.), Toronto vs. Houston (2 p.m.), and Philadelphia vs. Milwaukee (2 p.m.).
The Super Bowl kickoff time is usually around 6:30 p.m.
Finals rematch
Boston visits Dallas on Jan. 25 for the season’s first rematch of last season’s NBA Finals. Dallas visits Boston on Feb. 6.
This will be the seventh consecutive season that there will not be an NBA Finals rematch on Christmas Day, as five of the previous seven seasons had had a rematch of the previous season’s Finals on Christmas Day.
Number 1 takes on number 1
Two games featuring the teams’ most recent No. 1 draft picks, Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio and Zachary Lisacher of Atlanta, will be nationally televised. The games will be broadcast on TNT on Dec. 19 in San Antonio and on ESPN on Feb. 5 in Atlanta.
Both players are from France.
NCAA Title Game Day
It’s an unofficial tradition that NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Day falls on an off day for the NBA. That won’t be the case this year, with Sacramento playing at Detroit and Philadelphia playing at Miami on April 7.
This year’s men’s Final Four will be in San Antonio, but the Spurs will not be there. They will host Cleveland on April 4, the day before the national semifinal, and then go on the road.
Final Day
All 30 teams will play on the final day of the season, April 13, with games scheduled to kick off at either 1:00 pm or 3:30 pm EDT.
Every team except Toronto and San Antonio will play a conference opponent, with the Raptors visiting the Spurs.
NBA Finals Outlook
Game 1 of the NBA Finals will be played on June 5th.
That means that if the schedule remains similar to the past few years, Round 2 will likely be held on June 8th, Round 3 on June 11th, Round 4 on June 13th, Round 5 on June 16th, Round 6 on June 19th and Round 7 on June 22nd if necessary.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
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