The NBA’s preseason will start Oct. 9.
And if you believe that you’ve probably helped out that poor Nigerian prince who keeps emailing you with his money woes.
The NBA officially released its preseason schedule today, complete with a press release sent out to the media. The first games would be Oct. 9 and there would be 114 preseason games total, including Israel’s Maccabi Haifa playing a friendly against the Magic in Orlando on Oct. 23.
None of this is going to happen. The lockout will strangle it all.
Even if you believed that the league will salvage its full season (and you are pretty much alone in that room, by the way) the idea that the two sides still have an entire deal hammered out in time for camps to open as scheduled at the end of September is basically impossible. The two sides are not meeting and remain miles apart on the core issue of how to split Basketball Related Income, or even how to define it. Let alone issues like the hard cap and if the cap should be tied to league revenue.
Even releasing the schedule is really a negotiating tactic — get the fans excited for the season so there is pressure on the players to capitulate and end the lockout.
Let me save you the time, don’t get your hopes up. But if you want to see the schedule it’s up at NBA.com.
