On Thursday, the NBA announced the regular season for the 2024-25 season.
The season will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, and conclude on Sunday, April 13, 2025.
TNT, ESPN, ABC, and NBA TV will televise all NBA games.
Below are some highlights of the 2024-25 NBA schedule:
Opening Night
The regular season will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 22, with a doubleheader on TNT. In the first game, the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics will receive their championship rings and unveil their record 18th championship banner before hosting the New York Knicks in a matchup of last season’s top two playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference.
In the second game, the Minnesota Timberwolves – coming off the second-best regular season in franchise history and their first Western Conference Finals appearance in 20 years – will visit the Los Angeles Lakers as NBA all-time scoring leader LeBron James of the Lakers starts his record-tying 22nd NBA regular season.
Christmas Day
For the 17th year in a row, the NBA will feature five games on Christmas Day (Wednesday, Dec. 25), with ESPN platforms televising each matchup.
The 77th edition of the NBA on Christmas Day will tip off on ESPN as the Spurs face the Knicks in New York in a first-time matchup on Christmas Day (noon ET).
The second game will also be a first-time matchup on Christmas Day, as last season’s Western Conference Finals participants will face off when the Timberwolves visit the Mavericks on ABC and ESPN (2:30 p.m. ET).
ABC and ESPN will also air the next two games as the Celtics host the 76ers (5 p.m. ET) and the Lakers visit the Warriors (8 p.m. ET), marking the first scheduled matchups of the season for both division rivalries.
The Christmas Day schedule will conclude on ESPN when the Suns host the Nuggets (10:30 p.m. ET).
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
On Monday, Jan. 20, the NBA family will celebrate one of its most important traditions by honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy with three nationally televised games.
Memphis will host Minnesota (2:30 p.m. ET), and Boston will meet Golden State in San Francisco in a rematch of the NBA Finals 2022 (5 p.m. ET). Prior to those matchups, Dallas will visit the Charlotte Hornets (noon ET).
Election Day
For the third consecutive season, no NBA games have been scheduled for Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 5).
All 30 NBA teams will be in action on the day before Election Day (Monday, Nov. 4). The first game of the night will tip off at 7 p.m. ET, and all subsequent matchups will begin 15 minutes apart.
Final Week of Regular Season
Like last season, all 30 NBA teams will play on the third-to-last day (Friday, April 11) and the final day (Sunday, April 13) of the regular season, and no games have been scheduled for the second-to-last day (Saturday, April 12).
On April 13, in an effort to maximize competitive fairness, the seven games between Eastern Conference teams will begin at 1 p.m. ET, the seven games between Western Conference teams, and the one cross-conference game will start at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Additional Schedule Highlights
All 30 teams are scheduled to make at least one appearance on TNT or ESPN in the 2024-25 regular season. The NBA on TNT, ESPN, ABC, and NBA TV will present flexible scheduling throughout the regular season to provide the most compelling matchups to a national audience.
Primetime weeknight doubleheaders across TNT (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and ESPN (Wednesdays and Fridays) will be played at 7 p.m. ET/9:30 p.m. ET or 7:30 p.m. ET/10 p.m. ET.
ABC will televise 17 games as part of its two-weekend series, NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC (which tips off with the Jan. 25 tripleheader during NBA Rivals Week) and NBA Sunday Showcase (which begins with 76ers at Bucks on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. ET).
ABC and ESPN/ABC will exclusively televise the NBA Finals and the Western Conference Finals, respectively. TNT will exclusively air the Eastern Conference Finals 2025 and the NBA All-Star Game 2025, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 16, at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Friday, Nov. 1, will feature two rematches of last season’s seven-game playoff series: Orlando at Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver at Minnesota.
The 76ers’ Paul George, who played the previous five seasons with the Clippers, will visit his former team on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
The Mavericks’ Thompson, who won four NBA championships and spent 13 seasons with the Warriors, will return to Chase Center to play against Golden State for the first time when the teams meet in an NBA Cup Group Play game on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs and rookie forward Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks – both natives of France and the two most recent No. 1 overall picks in the NBA Draft – will face each other on Thursday, Dec. 19, in San Antonio (9:30 p.m. ET) and on Wednesday, Feb. 5 in Atlanta.
The NBA Play-In Tournament 2025 will take place from Tuesday, April 15 – Friday, April 18, followed by the start of the NBA Playoffs 2025 on Saturday, April 19.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals 2025 is set for Thursday, June 5.
The regular-season schedule includes defined dates and opponents for 80 of each team’s 82 games and two games designated as TBD dates and opponents.
Those two games for each team, to be played Dec. 10-16, will be determined based on the results of Group Play games in the NBA Cup 2024.
The Group Play schedule comprises 60 games that will be played on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 12 to Dec. 3.
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