2021-22 NBA schedule release: LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry on opening night; Lakers vs. Nets on Christmas

With many of the offseason wrapped up, we’re turning the web page to the 2021-22 season, which begins with the announcement of the NBA schedule which the league revealed Friday afternoon. We already knew some key dates on the calendar, because the NBA announced the Christmas Day slate of games on Tuesday, along with the 2 opening night time video games when the season begins on Oct. 19. However now we all know all the common season schedule which incorporates some particular highlights because the NBA celebrates its seventy fifth anniversary.

In celebration of that anniversary, the league can have “basic matchups” that pay homage to the primary season again in 1946. The primary of these basic matchups will likely be between the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors on Nov. 1, to mark the seventy fifth anniversary to this point of when the NBA held its first common season sport. The league can even have fun the three franchises who’ve performed in each NBA season — the Knicks, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors (beforehand the Philadelphia Warriors) — by holding three nationally televised video games between these three groups over a five-day span in December.

The ultimate “basic matchup” will occur on Jan. 7 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks, which marks the fiftieth anniversary of when the Lakers beat the Hawks for his or her Thirty third-straight win, which continues to be the longest successful streak in NBA historical past. 

Except for the basic matchups, the seventy fifth NBA season will tip off with a star-studded doubleheader on Oct. 19 that includes the Brooklyn Nets on the reigning Milwaukee Bucks, adopted by the Golden State Warriors visiting the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Middle.

For the Christmas Day matchups, right here is the total slate of video games. SportsLine also has you covered with their odds:

From this listing of video games on Christmas, the matchup that everybody will likely be watching carefully will likely be between the Lakers and Nets, which is able to happen at Staples Middle. Relying on the place each these groups are at that time within the schedule, it could possibly be a glimpse of what’s but to come back ought to these two groups meet within the NBA Finals as each are thought-about title contenders. This matchup options a number of former teammates going head-to-head, with LeBron James going through Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant going up towards Russell Westbrook, and James Harden matching up towards Carmelo Anthony. There are tons of storylines to be enthusiastic about concerning that sport, and so long as everyone seems to be wholesome — knock on wooden — it needs to be a carefully contested sport.

One other vital day on the NBA’s calendar is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on Jan. seventeenth, the place 12 video games will happen beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET between the New Orleans Pelicans and Boston Celtics. The league can even have three nationally televised video games that day, with the Memphis Grizzlies internet hosting the Chicago Bulls at 3:30 p.m. ET, adopted by the Bucks visiting the Hawks in Atlanta and shutting out the total day of video games would be the Jazz enjoying the Lakers at Staples Middle on NBA TV.

Different highlights from the NBA schedule embody Kyle Lowry’s return to Toronto on Feb. 3 on TNT to face the Raptors for the primary time for the reason that six-time All-Star joined the Miami Warmth in free company. The highest two picks from the 2021 NBA Draft — Cade Cunningham (No. 1) and Jalen Inexperienced (No. 2) — will face off for the primary time of their NBA careers when the Detroit Pistons go to the Houston Rockets on Nov. 10. We’ll additionally get the primary rematch of the 2021 NBA Finals between the Suns and Bucks when Milwaukee visits Phoenix on Feb. 10.

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The brand new NBA season begins October 19! You want a jersey to your favourite player earlier than the primary video games tip. Shop NBA jerseys, hats, jackets, and a whole lot more here.

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