Let the games begin … in 73 days!
ESPN’s Shams Charania kept the tradition going on Friday evening, leaking some of the top matchups on the NBA calendar for the upcoming season. He first shared word of the league’s Opening Night, which is reportedly scheduled for Oct. 21 and will feature four Western Conference teams.
The reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Houston Rockets. Not only will it pit one of the West’s top up-and-coming teams against the conference favorites, but it will bring Kevin Durant back to his long-time home. The superstar forward joined the Rockets via trade earlier this summer as he continues to search for his third-ever NBA title. What better motivation than watching your former franchise hoist a banner to begin the 2025-26 season? I’m sure the crowd will be nice!
Opening night’s other battle will feature several of the league’s staple superstars. Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler will travel south to face off against Luka Doncic and LeBron James. While both the Lakers and Warriors have struggled to compete at the level their stars expect in recent years, you’re not going to find many NBA fans complaining about this matchup.
If anyone is going to complain, it might be those in the Eastern Conference. While it’s typical for the league to settle on only two opening night contests, the absence of an East team speaks to relatively low expectations for the conference this season.
With Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton both sidelined with injury, two of the top teams appear out of the running. Nevertheless, the Knicks are fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance and certainly have the talent to help ring in a new year of hoops. A case could have also been made for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dominated the 2024-25 regular season with 64 wins and will welcome back nearly an identical lineup. Even the Bucks might have been a solid fit. Giannis Antetokounmpo remains one of the league’s biggest stars, and Milwaukee’s new-look team with Myles Turner has a lot to prove.
Alas, the talent in the Western Conference is undeniable, and the NBA is clearly prepared for this conference to control much of the discourse this season.
NBA’s Christmas Day Schedule
The Western Conference lovefest will only continue on Christmas Day. Only two of the ten teams suiting up on arguably the NBA’s most important day come from the East. According to Charania, the Knicks and Cavaliers will face off at Madison Square Garden. While the order of the games is unclear, Charania did list this matchup first.
The following matchups will reportedly be …
Spurs at Thunder
Rockets at Lakers
Mavericks at Warriors
Timberwolves at Nuggets
Wemby vs. Shai, Durant vs. Luka, Cooper vs. Steph, and ANT vs. Jokic? Again, as frustrating as this must be for some squads on the East, this lineup belongs underneath the Christmas tree!
