Maximizing player recuperation and lowering travel obligations were part of the NBA’s formula for the forthcoming regular season, according to the league’s announcement of the schedule for 2023-24 on Thursday.
This season, teams have an average of 14 back-to-back games, a modest increase over last year’s pace of 13.3 per team. However, back-to-backs involving travel are down to 9.0 on average, down from 9.6 per team last season.
There will be no games the day before or after high-profile national broadcast games, such as Christmas games and all ABC weekend games. There will be no In-Season Tournament games on the second night of a back-to-back.
For the time being, teams have been given an 80-game schedule for the upcoming season. The other two games will be determined by how they do in the new competition, which begins on November 3.
Denver will celebrate its championship and receive a visit from Commissioner Adam Silver on October 24, when it hosts the Los Angeles Lakers in the first of 1,230 regular-season games.
Denver Nuggets center and NBA MVP Nikola Jokic will take on LeBron James on October 24
The Warriors, led by Steph Curry and Chris Paul, will take against Phoenix, Paul’s previous team.
The second game of the opening-night doubleheader pits Phoenix against Golden State, which means Chris Paul will face his former team.
If Paul plays in that game, it will be his 1,215th regular-season game and 1,364th game overall – and he has never come off the bench. The last time Paul did not start a game that mattered was on December 13, 2004, when he was a few minutes late for the team bus and was benched for the first four minutes of Wake Forest’s game versus Temple.
The No. 1 overall choice, Victor Wembanyama, will make his debut on the second night of the season, when San Antonio hosts Dallas on October 25.
Christmas in New York has long been an NBA tradition.
The Knicks will play on December 25 for the 56th time, beginning the customary Christmas quintuple header against the Milwaukee Bucks at noon.
The remaining Christmas games are as follows: Golden State vs. Denver (2:30 p.m. Eastern), Boston vs. the Los Angeles Lakers (5 p.m. Eastern), Philadelphia vs. Miami (8 p.m. Eastern), and Dallas vs. Phoenix (10:30 p.m. Eastern).
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers will have another chance to become the Christmas all-time wins leader among players; he’s played in 17 games and his teams are 10-7. The only other player with ten wins on Christmas is Dwyane Wade, whose teams went 10-3 over the holiday season.
On December 25, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra will defend his perfect record; he is 8-0 as a head coach. Only Jack Ramsay (11-3), Phil Jackson (11-7), Gene Shue (9-4) and Red Auerbach (9-6) have a better record at Christmas than Spoelstra.
There are 11 games scheduled on January 15, the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, including the regular NBA matchups in Atlanta and Memphis.
That day, San Antonio plays the Hawks, while Golden State plays the Grizzlies.
San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, 19, will be on national TV for 11 games this season
Jimmy Butler and the Heat will be under pressure to maintain Erik Spoelstra’s Christmas record.
Houston hosts Philadelphia, New Orleans hosts Dallas, Orlando hosts New York, Detroit hosts Washington, Chicago hosts Cleveland, Miami hosts Brooklyn, Boston hosts Toronto, Indiana hosts Utah, and Oklahoma City hosts the Los Angeles Lakers.
From January 23 to January 27, NBA Rivals Week returns with 11 nationally televised games across four networks.
Those matchups:
– January 23: New York at Brooklyn, LA Lakers at LA Clippers (TNT)
– January 24: Oklahoma City at San Antonio, Phoenix at Dallas (ESPN)
– January 25: Boston at Miami, Sacramento at Golden State (TNT)
– January 26: Dallas at Atlanta, Portland at San Antonio (NBA TV)
– January 27: Miami at New York, Philadelphia at Denver, LA Lakers at Golden State (ABC)
Because of the All-Star break, there are no games between February 16 and February 21. This year’s All-Star Game will be held in Indianapolis. On February 15, there are two games, and on February 22, there are 12 games.
For the first time, an NBA Finals rematch from the previous season will take place on February 29 – Miami vs. Denver to commemorate Leap Year this season.
Milwaukee at Charlotte, Utah at Orlando, Atlanta at Brooklyn, Golden State at New York, Oklahoma City at San Antonio, Houston at Phoenix, and Washington at the Lakers are the other leap-year games.
It’s unclear if James Harden will be back in Philadelphia for its opening clash vs. Milwaukee
For the first time in history, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will put the in-season tournament to the test.
No NBA games will be played on Election Day for the second year in a row. It falls on November 7 this year.
Given how the new in-season tournament is being arranged, two Sundays – December 3 and December 10 – are also projected to be off days.
Other off days include Thanksgiving on November 23, Christmas Eve on December 24, the NCAA men’s Division I basketball championship game on April 8, and the final day of the regular season on April 13.
Atlanta will play Orlando (a Magic home game) on November 9 in Mexico City, while Brooklyn will face Cleveland (a Cavaliers home game) in Paris on January 11.
San Antonio will play two home games in Austin, Texas, this season, like it did last year. The Spurs will host the Denver Nuggets on March 15 and the Brooklyn Nets on March 17.
Not only will all 30 teams play at 1 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. Eastern on the final day of the season, April 14, but they will also play on April 12 this season.
The play-in tournament would begin on April 16, and the NBA playoffs would begin on April 20.