New York (AFP) – US basketball fans will have plenty of chances to check out LeBron James’s first season in Philadelphia, with the 76ers featured in 34 nationally televised games according to the full NBA season schedule released on Thursday. The NBA had already announced that James and the Sixers would be in action on the first day of the league’s 81st season on October 20, trying to spoil the New York Knicks’ celebration of last season’s crown.
That game is part of a three-game slate featuring James launching his record-extending 24th season with his new club at Madison Square Garden. Other opening-day games will see the Boston Celtics taking on Eastern Conference rivals Detroit, and a Western Conference finals rematch between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. Oklahoma City, powered by two-time reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, beat the Spurs for the Western Conference regular-season title last season but lost in seven games in the West playoff finals to Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs.
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The 76ers will be in the spotlight all season as they seek their first championship since 1983, bolstered not only by the addition of NBA all-time leading scorer James but also by the arrival of 2024 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jaylen Brown from Boston. The 76ers will play their first home game with James on the roster on October 22 when Cleveland, James’s hometown team, visits. There are no games on November 3, election day in the United States, but all 30 teams will play on November 2.
Other key dates include the NBA Cup final taking place at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on December 11 and the trade deadline on February 11. The All-Star Game will be held on February 21 at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The regular season will conclude with all 30 teams in action on April 11.
The previously announced five-game Christmas Day slate will see James returning with the Sixers to Los Angeles to face the Lakers, the team he departed as a free agent in June. Boston will entertain Miami, with the Celtics having won 10 of the past 11 meetings with the Heat over three seasons.
Christmas will also feature Oklahoma City at Minnesota, while Denver, powered by Nikola Jokic, will visit Stephen Curry-led Golden State, and Wembanyama will lead the Spurs into New York to face the Knicks in an NBA Finals rematch. The Spurs will have a busy holiday season, with a New Year’s Eve date in Charlotte and a New Year’s Day game at Washington.
The Spurs are set to return to Paris for a January 14 meeting with New Orleans and will take on the Pelicans again in Manchester on January 17. The first international games of the season will come on November 7, when the Denver Nuggets play the Indiana Pacers in Mexico City. Some intriguing reunions are sprinkled through the season — a marathon undertaking that will see each team play 82 games.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time MVP who led the Bucks to the 2021 title, returns to Milwaukee for the first time on January 28 after being traded to the Miami Heat in June. Brown, a five-time All-Star for the Celtics, returns to Boston with the 76ers on January 21.
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