The NBA schedule is starting to leak out—we’ve already seen the Christmas Day games—and now a handful more dates, including opening night, have come out.
Here are more dates, via Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Opening night, Oct. 22
• New York Knicks at Boston Celtics
• Minnestoa Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers
The Knicks on ring night in Boston is a great fit — Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and a contender and rival specifically built to challenge Boston should be a fun opener. The nightcap is part of the changing of the guard theme, with Anthony Edwards and the rising Timberwolves taking on LeBron James and Anthony Davis trying to capture glory one more time.
Oct. 23
• Milwaukee Bucks at Philadelphia 76ers
• Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Clippers
Doc Rivers returns to Philadelphia with his new team, featuring Giannis Antetokounmpo. We also get a look at the Joel Embiid, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey big three for the 76ers.
The Clippers open Steve Ballmer’s new Intuit Dome (insert your own toilet joke here, we’ve run out of them). One of the benefits of having their own building was better scheduling times for the Clippers. As Law Murray of The Athletic noted, the last time the Clippers opened at home against the Suns was 2022, but in that case, Los Angeles had to play in Sacramento the night before and then have a season-opening back-to-back against Phoenix. This time, Los Angeles gets the prime spot.
Nov. 12
• Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors
Klay Thompson makes his return to the Bay Area.
Jan. 25 and Feb. 6, 2025
Those are the dates of the NBA Finals rematches between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.
