Finalists from the past season open the new NBA season: Champion Golden State Warriors around superstar Stephen Curry welcomes the Los Angeles Lakers on October 18th.
The runners-up Boston Celtics have already met the Philadelphia 76ers. This emerges from the game plan published on Wednesday.
It continues a day later with the Memphis Grizzlies playing the New York Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks playing the Phoenix Suns, a rematch of the Western Conference Semifinals. In addition, top pick Paolo Banchero makes his debut with the Orlando Magic against the Detroit Pistons around his predecessor Cade Cunningham.
Number two pick Chet Holmgren travels to Minneapolis with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Rudy Gobert will wear the Minnesota Timberwolves jersey for the first time. On the third day, two delicacies await all NBA fans with the hits Sixers vs. Bucks and Lakers vs. Clippers.
Year after year, highlights are the games on Martin Luther King Day and Thanksgiving: Hawks vs. Heat and Grizzlies vs. Suns on MLK Day, Celtics vs. Mavs and Warriors vs. Clippers on Thanksgiving.
NBA: Fewer back-to-backs and Rival Week
As usual, some players will reunite with their old teams: Ben Simmons will make his debut with the Nets in Philadelphia on November 22nd, and James Harden will return to Brooklyn on February 11th. Rudy Gobert travels to Salt Lake City with the Wolves on December 9th and Jalen Brunson travels to Dallas with the Knicks on December 27th. Should Donovan Mitchell actually join the Knicks, the game in Salt Lake City would be on November 15th.
Two games of the new season will take place outside of the United States. The Miami Heat take on the San Antonio Spurs in Mexico City on December 17, and the Chicago Bulls take on the Detroit Pistons in Paris on January 19.
Each team will play 82 games each in the regular season through April 9. After that, the playoff games begin. There is no game on November 8th to encourage basketball fans to vote in the US midterm elections. Instead, all 30 teams are in action the day before.
Once again, the game plan was created in an attempt to reduce the burden on players from traveling and back-to-backs. The latter decrease in comparison to the previous season from 13.5 to 13.3 on average. Away games without travel (with the same team or twice in New York or Los Angeles) increased from 53 to 88. Also new is the so-called Rival Week starting January 23, in which eleven nationally televised games with special rivalries are scheduled – including LA and New York derbies.
It had already leaked out what the schedule for the Christmas Games would look like.