NEW YORK (AFP) — The National Basketball Association (NBA) will open its 2024-25 season with the defending champions, the Boston Celtics, hosting New York and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting Minnesota, according to a schedule unveiled Thursday.
The NBA’s 79th regular season will begin with these games on October 22 and end on April 13, 2025, when all 30 teams will play.
The Celtics will unveil an 18th NBA championship banner before facing the Knicks in a matchup of the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, will begin a record 22nd championship season when the Lakers host Minnesota, with the Timberwolves coming off their second-best season and first trip to the Western Conference Finals in 20 years.
The NBA playoffs will begin on April 19, following play-in games from April 15-18, and the best-of-seven NBA Finals will begin on June 5.
Each team will play 82 regular-season games, with some matchups to be determined by the NBA Cup, the season tournament that begins Nov. 12 and ends in December in Las Vegas.
On October 23, the second day of the NBA campaign, nine-time NBA All-Star Paul George made his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers played their first game in their new arena, the Intuit Dome, against Phoenix.
Defending Western Conference champion Dallas, with new point guard Klay Thompson, will host San Antonio on Oct. 24, with reigning Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and new Spurs point guard Chris Paul, who is entering his 20th NBA campaign.
That night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder will also visit NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets.
On October 25, Phoenix will visit the Lakers and Indiana will face New York.
The NBA will host five games on Christmas, with San Antonio at New York, Minnesota at Dallas, the Lakers at Golden State, Philadelphia at Boston and Denver at Phoenix.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day will see Minnesota at Memphis, Boston at Golden State and Dallas at Charlotte.
A week of NBA rivalries will run from January 21-25, with the final day seeing Boston at Dallas in a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals, as well as Denver at Minnesota and the Lakers at Golden State.
