First Game Knicks-Celtics off on Oct. 22
By,Ohm Youngmisuk,
Built to win a championship, the Knicks will immediately see how they and their newest player, Mikal Bridges, stack up when they try to spoil the Celtics' championship ring celebration on opening night in Boston.
The NBA unveiled its 2024-25 schedule Thursday with the Knicks-Celtics rivalry opening the season on Oct. 22. That will be followed by Olympic teammates LeBron James and Anthony Edwards squaring off on the marquee night when the Lakers host the Timberwolves.
The Knicks finished second in the Eastern Conference last season -- 14 games behind the first-place Celtics -- but were plagued by injuries in the postseason and lost in the conference semifinals to the Pacers, who were then swept by the Celtics in the conference finals.
In an attempt to gain ground on the reigning champion Celtics, the Knicks swung their first trade with the Nets since 1983, sending five first-round draft picks, a first-round pick swap and a second-round pick to land Bridges in the biggest trade of the summer.
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The Knicks hope the addition of Bridges, who will be reunited with former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo in New York, will help them win the East. The Celtics finished with the NBA's best record (64-18) last season before going 16-3 in the postseason, rolling to the 18th championship in franchise history and their first since 2008.
Edwards and the Wolves are looking to take a step forward after reaching the Western Conference finals last postseason. The Lakers' opener could also be a first glimpse at rookie Bronny James, selected 55th overall out of USC.
The second night of the season will be highlighted by another heavyweight matchup between two Eastern Conference contenders. The 76ers' new big three of Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey make their long-awaited debut when they host Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and the Bucks on Oct. 23.
A few hours later, on the opposite coast in Inglewood, California, Steve Ballmer will open his state-of-the-art Intuit Dome when the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden christen the newest court in the league against the Suns and Olympians Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
The Intuit Dome will hold its next-most-anticipated game two weeks later when George returns with the Sixers to Los Angeles to face his old team. George was supposed to open Intuit Dome with Leonard but instead will be motivated to light up the new arena after the Clippers wouldn't match the four-year, $212 million deal he signed with Philadelphia.
George said he would have taken the same three-year, $150 million deal that Leonard signed in an extension in January but wanted a no-trade clause attached to it as well. The Clippers opted to let George walk after five seasons in which Leonard and George couldn't fulfill championship expectations largely because of injuries.
George isn't the only pure-shooting All-Star to change homes this offseason. Klay Thompson will make his highly anticipated Mavericks debut alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving against super sophomore Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs on Oct. 24.
On Nov. 12, Thompson will make what certainly will be an emotional return to Golden State to face Stephen Curry and Draymond Green as an opponent for the first time. After contract negotiations to stay in San Francisco didn't go the way he had hoped, Thompson will be inspired to show he has plenty of 3-pointers left in him.
The top two teams to finish in the West last season will face off during the first week of the new season. The Thunder travel to Denver on Oct. 24 in a game that features Nuggets reigning MVP Nikola Jokic against MVP contender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Ja Morant will make his long-awaited return to the court when the Grizzlies play at Utah on Oct. 23. Morant played in a total of nine games last season due to suspension and a labral tear suffered in his right shoulder in January. The Grizzlies finished 27-55, but they drafted Purdue's Zach Edey ninth overall.
And with Morant -- who was fully cleared to participate in basketball activities in July -- back, Memphis should be poised to contend in the West again.
The NBA's Christmas Day lineup will be star-studded. It opens with the league's potential face of the future, Wembanyama, making his Christmas debut at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. Doncic and the Mavericks will host Edwards and the Wolves in a rematch of the Western Conference finals. The Sixers will then see where they stand against the champs in Boston.
That will be followed by Curry and James meeting for the fourth time on Christmas. The two stars, who helped Team USA win gold in Paris, will be reunited when the Lakers travel to San Francisco to face Golden State. The holiday slate will finish with Jokic's Nuggets at Phoenix to face Booker, Durant and Bradley Beal.
The league's All-Star Weekend will be held Feb. 14-16 in San Francisco. The regular season will conclude April 13.
Klay Thompson's return to the Bay Area will come on the first night of the 2024-25 Emirates NBA Cup schedule.
Thompson and his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, will face the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Nov. 12, part of the full NBA Cup schedule unveiled Tuesday.
The rest of the NBA regular-season schedule will be revealed Thursday on ESPN's "NBA Today."
The future Hall of Fame guard, who formed the greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history alongside Stephen Curry, signed a three-year, $50 million deal with Dallas this offseason and will now go back to the place he called home for the first 13 seasons of his career.
NBA Cup schedule highlights
Matchup Date
Knicks at 76ers Nov. 12
Mavericks at Warriors Nov. 12
Lakers at Spurs Nov. 15
Grizzlies at Warriors Nov. 15
Cavaliers at Celtics Nov. 19
Thunder at Spurs Nov. 19
Pacers at Bucks Nov. 22
Mavericks at Nuggets Nov. 22
Bucks at Heat Nov. 26
Lakers at Suns Nov. 26
Clippers at Timberwolves Nov. 29
Thunder at Lakers Nov. 29
Knicks at Hornets Nov. 29
Cavaliers at Hawks Nov. 29
Pelicans at Grizzlies Nov. 29
Magic at Knicks Dec. 3
Warriors at Nuggets Dec. 3
Quarterfinals (at higher seed) Dec. 10-11
Semifinals (Las Vegas) Dec. 14
Championship (Las Vegas) Dec. 17
That won't be the only blockbuster game on the opening night of the schedule for the second edition of the league's in-season tournament, however, as the opening half of the national doubleheader on TNT will see the New York Knicks travel down Interstate 95 to face the Philadelphia 76ers.
Coming off a thrilling six-game first-round playoff series, both teams made blockbuster moves this offseason, with the Knicks trading for Mikal Bridges and the 76ers signing Paul George.
ESPN's slate of games will begin Friday, Nov. 15, with LeBron James and Victor Wembanyama -- who had a thrilling battle in the gold medal game of the Olympics -- facing one another as the Los Angeles Lakers, winners of last year's inaugural tournament, travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs, before the Warriors host Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies in the second game of the doubleheader.
Like last year, the NBA Cup's group stage games will be played on Tuesdays (Nov. 12, 19, 26 and Dec. 3, with nationally televised games on TNT) and Fridays (Nov. 15, 22 and 29, with nationally televised games on ESPN). On those days, the only games being played will be NBA Cup contests. Every team will play four group stage games, facing every other team in their group once (two home, two road).
The groups, which were drawn last month based off last year's regular-season standings, are as follows:
East Group A: Knicks, Orlando Magic, 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets
East Group B: Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons
East Group C: Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards
West Group A: Minnesota Timberwolves, LA Clippers, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers
West Group B: Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Lakers, Utah Jazz, Spurs
West Group C: Denver Nuggets, Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans, Warriors, Grizzlies
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The winner of each of the six groups -- plus the top second-place finisher from each conference -- will advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. The quarterfinals will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 10 and Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the site of the higher-seeded team. The winners of those games will advance to the semifinals in Las Vegas on Saturday, Dec. 14, with the championship game to also be played in Las Vegas on Dec. 17.
ESPN's other nationally televised games will see the Pacers and Bucks -- who had memorable regular-season clashes last season before the Pacers defeated the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs -- face off in Milwaukee on Nov. 22, followed by Luka Doncic and the Mavericks going to Denver to take on Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, in a battle of the past two Western Conference champions.
Then, on Nov. 29 -- Black Friday -- the Clippers will travel to Minnesota to face Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves, before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder face James and the Lakers in Los Angeles. That day will also see three games televised in the afternoon on NBA TV: the Knicks at the Hornets at noon ET, followed by the Cavaliers at the Hawks at 2:30 p.m. and the Pelicans at the Grizzlies at 5 p.m.
The highlights of the remaining three group stage dates are the Cavaliers and the defending NBA champion Celtics squaring off in a rematch of their second-round playoff series in Boston on Nov. 19, followed by the Thunder facing the Spurs in San Antonio; the Bucks playing at Miami on Nov. 26, before the Lakers face the Suns in Phoenix; and, on the final day of the schedule, the Magic taking on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, before the Warriors and Nuggets square off in Denver.
White was a first-round pick by the Houston Rockets in 2012 but never played for the team after disclosing mental health issues and saying he did not want to fly to road games with the team. He signed multiple 10-day contacts with the Sacramento Kings in 2013, playing in three games, but was eventually let go before playing overseas for several years.
The 33-year-old White, who was an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness in sports, also considered a future in mixed martial arts but lost his only professional fight in 2021.
White has made a number of social media comments that have been denounced as derogatory. White, who ran and lost in the GOP primary for a U.S. House seat in 2022, argues that, as a Black candidate, he can broaden the party's base by appealing to voters of color in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and others disillusioned with establishment politics.
He is expected to be a big underdog to Klobuchar, who has served as a senator since 2007.
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