-
Tim BontempsESPN
The NBA released its 2022/23 schedule Wednesday afternoon. It starts with two long-standing rivalries that involve the two teams who reached last year’s NBA Finals.
The 2022-23 NBA regular seasons will start on Tuesday, October 18, with the Philadelphia 76ers Travelling to face their forever adversaries, the Eastern Conference champion Boston CelticsThen, follow by Los Angeles Lakers To take on the 2022 NBA champ, I’m heading up to the Pacific Coast Golden State Warriors Chase Center, at the time when Stephen Curry, Draymond Green Klay Thompson All of them will be collecting their fourth championship rings.
The second half of opening week will continue Wednesday when ESPN will host its first doubleheader. This will be kickstarted by the New York Knicks Memphis, Tennessee to Take on Ja Morant And the Memphis Grizzlies. This will be followed up by a rematch from the Western Conference semifinal last year between the Dallas Mavericks Phoenix Suns Phoenix – This is where Dallas won a stunning victory to end their season on home court in Game 7 in that series.
Other than those games, there are also the Orlando Magic Paolo Banchero The top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft will make his NBA debut in Detroit, against the opposition. Detroit Pistons The No. The No. Cade CunninghamWhile Rudy Gobert His will be Minnesota Timberwolves Make your debut at home against No. 2nd overall selection in this year’s draft Chet HolmgrenThe, and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Additionally, New Orleans Pelicans Who can you reasonably expect to have? Zion Williamson After missing all of the last season, he will be back on the court. Brooklyn will host the opening match against the NetsThey are scheduled to continue having a baby, but they have not yet been scheduled. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving Ben Simmons Play together for the first-time.
Thursday will feature another doubleheader TNT, as the Milwaukee Bucks After the Sixers’ game, there will be an all LA showdown between them and the Sixers. Clippers Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. Friday will also see ESPN first feature a rematch between the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals slugfest. Miami HeatThen, follow by Denver Nuggets To take on the Warriors, you will need to travel to San Francisco.
Three home debuts will be made on the first weekend of the NBA Season: Banchero and Magic hosting the Celtics Saturday. Jamal Murray He is expected to make a return to Denver’s court for the Thunder’s first game in nearly two years. Holmgren will make his home debut Sunday when the Wolves will play Oklahoma City.
Along with showing all five Christmas Day games – 76ers – Lakers-Mavericks, Bucks -Celtics, Bucks – Bucks, Grizzlies – Warriors and Suns – Nuggets – ESPN/ABC will see its annual Saturday showcase games return to this season.
The Saturday schedule begins with the Celtics traveling to San Francisco to take on the Warriors in a rematch of the NBA Finals. This will be followed by: Bucks Heat on January 14; Nuggets–76ers and Knicks–Nets on Jan. 28. Mavericks–Warriors are on February 4; Lakers–Warriors, on February 11; Celtics–76ers on 02/25; 76ers–Bucks on 03/04; Bucks–Warriors in March 11.
Three marquee matchups will take place on Sundays during the tournament: Grizzlies-Celtics, Suns-Bucks, Lakers-Mavericks, and Suns–Mavericks on February 12 and 26 respectively, and Suns–Mavericks, Warriors-Lakers and Suns–Mavericks March 5.
The NBA announced this week that there will not be games on Tuesday, November 8, as all 30 league teams will play the night before. This is in an effort to encourage its fans to vote. Thanksgiving Eve and Martin Luther King Day will be the other marquee dates.
Thanksgiving Eve will see an ESPN doubleheader featuring the Mavericks taking on Boston’s Celtics. The Clippers then traveling to Golden State to take down the Warriors. MLK Day will feature a pair TNT games: The Miami Heat at the Atlanta Hawks, then the Suns of Memphis will face the Grizzlies.
A typically busy schedule will also be coming into and out of this season’s All-Star Break. It will all revolve around the All-Star Game which will take place in Salt Lake City. In the days before the break, Boston will travel from Milwaukee to play the Clippers in TNT; Golden State will travel in Los Angeles to play TNT’s Clippers on Valentine’s Day; Heat will play in Brooklyn against the Nets; Pelicans will travel to Los Angeles on Wednesday, February 15 to play the Lakers; and the final pre-All Star schedule will end with the Bucks in Chicago facing the Bulls The Clippers in Phoenix vs. the Suns on TNT Thursday, February 16.
After the break, a matchup between Morant’s Grizzlies, and Willamson’s Pelicans, New Orleans, will be followed at 10 p.m. by the Warriors in Los Angeles to play their Lakers on February 23rd at 10 p.m. TNT. Miami will travel from Miami to Milwaukee while the Nets go to Chicago to play their Bulls on ESPN. Friday, February 24, is the final day of the season.
There will be many “reunion” games throughout this season. Players will face former teams for their first time, as usual. Two of these games will be involving two teams, the Nets and 76ers. Ben Simmons, who was not able to watch the return to Philadelphia last season following his trade to Brooklyn is set to appear on TNT’s first game there since that trade, on Tuesday, November 22. James HardenMeanwhile, he will return to Brooklyn on February 11.
Gobert will return to Utah to face the Jazz Dec. 9. Jalen Brunson He will be returning to Dallas with the Knicks on Dec. 27, as well as his All-Star guard Dejounte Murray After being traded to the Hawks in the offseason, he will return to San Antonio to play for the Hawks.
There is also the Donovan Mitchell Situation, which remains unresolved. However, if a trade to the Knicks is made, they will be in Utah on November 15, which will be televised on TNT. The Jazz will then visit Madison Square Garden on February 11, two days after the NBA trade deadline.
For the top three NBA Draft picks, Banchero Holmgren and Andres Banchero Houston‘s Jabari Smith Jr. They’ll all be on the court together within the first few weeks.
Holmgren’s Thunder will take on Banchero’s Magic in Oklahoma City on November 1 on TNT. The Rockets and Magic will meet in Orlando on November 7, and the Thunder and Rockets face off in Houston on NBA TV on November 26.
The NBA has tried for years to reduce wear-and tear on its players. It did this again this season. The league is increasing the number games without travel between road games by 53 to 88 this year. 55 of these games were played in the same city twice, while 33 came from two consecutive games in New York or Los Angeles. The average number of back-to-backs per team has dropped from 13.5 to 13.3 last year. Since 2014-15, the average number back-to-backs per game has fallen six games.
The NBA also launched a “NBA Rivals Week” on Jan. 23 with 11 nationally televised games that feature rivalries from across the league. These include battles for New York, Los Angeles, and rematches of the 2019 NBA Finals between Toronto Raptors and Lakers.