In a sport where one player can dramatically swing the fortunes of a team, there has been no greater benefactor in recent history than San Antonio Spurs.
One of the many tangible effects of Victor Wembanyama’s arrival has been the increase in national attention paid to Spurs. Just a few seasons ago, few outside eyes were on the Silver & Black; the 2022-23 Spurs have only been featured on national television four times, four times more than the previous season.
Then Wembanyama arrived in June of this off-season and everything changed.
The Spurs enjoyed 19 nationally televised appearances last season, and the league seems content to continue to showcase its fastest-rising superstar. Including NBA TV, San Antonio will play on national television 21 times during the 2024-25 NBA season.
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From San Antonio to Los Angeles, from New York to Paris, major television networks will follow Silver & Black not only throughout the continental United States, but also across the Atlantic.
Of those 21 nationally televised games, here are five of the most notable:
Just like last season, Spurs will open their season against their northern rivals on national television.
In front of ESPN’s cameras, the Mavericks cruised to a 126-119 victory at Frost Bank Center in last season’s contest. This time around, San Antonio and Dallas will square off at American Airlines Center on TNT — the first game of a doubleheader on the network that will be followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder taking on the Denver Nuggets.
Both teams will play at the end of the first few days of NBA action, meaning Wembanyama and Luka Doncic’s season debuts will be saved for last.
It’s no surprise that the NBA chose to bring in these two Texas-sized superstars to close out the first round of opening games. It will give Wembanyama and Doncic the opportunity to remind the league just how electric they can be.
The contest is scheduled to kick off on October 24 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time.
After the inaugural NBA Cup last season proved to be a resounding success, its second edition will feature a game on ESPN that could be seen as a passing of the baton between the past and the potential future face of the league.
Intersections between past and future megastars don’t happen often, which is natural given that there haven’t been many players in NBA history with the level of influence that LeBron James, Michael Jordan and other legends have had, but when those matchups do happen, the sights, sounds and results are immortalized.
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This does not mean that Wembanyama will reach that level, but those who followed even a tiny part of his basketball career probably thought that he can This matchup against James, the personification of basketball’s rarely reached pinnacle, can easily be etched in NBA history as a battle between two different eras of superstars.
The contest is scheduled to kick off on November 15 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time.
For the 11th time in their history — and the first since 2016 — the Spurs will work on Santa’s only day off.
Additionally, San Antonio will be heading to the mecca of Christmas basketball, as the Knicks have played on Christmas the most times (54 times) of any NBA team.
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The Spurs and Knicks will play at 11 a.m. Central Time on ESPN, which is not surprising for two reasons:
For three consecutive seasons, New York has kicked off the Christmas season, and the start time for the first game is ideal for another major NBA audience: France, where the game will start at 6 p.m. local time. Few dinnertime television programs can compare to the notoriety of France’s biggest basketball star playing in the world’s most famous arena.
The list of NBA stars who have had memorable Christmas performances at Madison Square Garden is incredibly long. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of Bernard King scoring 60 points at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day. Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving and Patrick Ewing all hit game-winning shots during the holiday. Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant each had multiple monster games at the Garden.
This season, Wembanyama has the chance to add his name to both lists.
Christmas Day kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. Central Time.
The NBA has held regular and preseason games in Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines and across Europe, but this year’s competition in France is likely to be the most high-profile of all.
Wembanyama and the Spurs will travel to Paris in late January for a pair of games against the Pacers. While San Antonio had a French superstar when it last visited France in 2006 (Tony Parker), Wembanyama’s return will likely be a little more notable 18 years later.
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“Playing in Paris has been an incredible experience for our organization in the past and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of the NBA Paris Games 2025,” San Antonio Spurs CEO and Chairman RC Buford said in April. “We are excited to continue to honor that legacy by purposefully connecting and engaging with our fans in France on and off the court.”
Wembanyama’s return leg in France is scheduled for January 23 at 1 p.m. Central Time.
Unlike most nationally televised games in San Antonio, Wembanyama won’t be in the spotlight when Phoenix visits the Lone Star State in late February.
For the first time since Feb. 28, 2007, former Texas Longhorns player Kevin Durant will play in a basketball game hosted by Austin when the Suns take on the Spurs at the Moody Center, home of the Longhorns men’s and women’s basketball teams.
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Few NBA players can say they played a professional game in the same arena where they played college basketball, but this year, Durant can say he did. While the Moody Center didn’t exist when Durant was in college (the arena opened in 2022), the Slim Reaper will be returning to his college days.
“Having Kevin Durant on the court for a TNT game night is a testament to all the hard work our group has done to create intentionality around Austin,” said Brandon James, Spurs Sports & Entertainment’s senior vice president of strategic growth. “We’re excited for fans to experience that atmosphere again.”
This game is part of a two-game series in Austin, as the Spurs will face the Detroit Pistons at the Moody Center the day after their game against the Suns, but unless the Pistons pull off a miraculous turnaround and vault into the playoff picture, San Antonio’s matchup with Phoenix should generate a lot more buzz.
The first contest is scheduled to kick off on February 20 at 8:30 p.m. Central Time.
