NBA Releases Full Christmas, Opening Week Schedule For 2018-19 Season
The NBA's 73rd season will begin play on October 16 with a matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics, as the league announced a limited national television schedule on Wednesday.
The Golden State Warriors start defense of their back–to–back titles later that night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The full NBA schedule will be announced on Friday.
Check out the games announced below:
NBA
Some of the season's most intriguing matchups are a direct result of the movement of the offseason, which saw LeBron James head out west to join the Los Angeles Lakers and All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins being added to an already stacked Warriors lineup.
The Lakers will open their season on the road Oct. 18 against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Christmas games feature the Warriors and Lakers, the 76ers visiting the Celtics, the Utah Jazz hosting the Trail Blazers, Milwaukee Bucks traveling to New York to play the Knicks and the Thunder taking on the Rockets in Houston.
The annual slate of games on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Jan. 21 include New Orleans Pelicans against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Rockets and 76ers in Philadelphia with the late game featuring the Warriors and the Lakers, this time in Los Angeles.
The All-Star Game will take place on February 17 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The game in Charlotte was originally supposed to be played in 2017, but was moved to New Orleans due to the state's so-called "bathroom bill," a law that limited anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
