NBA: Schedule for 75th anniversary season has nods to history including Knicks-Raptors

The full schedule for the NBA’s 75th anniversary season was released Friday, highlighted in part by what will be a yearlong tribute to some of the key moments in league history.

Opening night is 19 October. It’s back to a normal schedule for the NBA, with all teams playing 82 games after a 72-game slate last season because the calendar was compressed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Toronto Raptors will play at home after relocating to Tampa, Florida, last season because of Canadian border restrictions.

The NBA has prioritised player rest over the past several seasons, a trend that continues this year. Teams on average will travel about 43,000 miles (69,000 kilometers), which would be a record low for a 30-team, 82-game season. Single-game road trips are down to about seven per team, a considerable drop from about 10 per team two seasons ago.

Also back from last season: There will be instances of teams playing two games on one trip to a city against the same opponent, something many teams enjoyed. There also are multiple instances of Eastern Conference teams flying to Los Angeles and playing both the Lakers and the Clippers on that leg of a trip.

And for the fourth consecutive normal season, excluding last year’s slate, no team is being asked to play four games in the span of five days.

A breakdown of some of the season highlights:

THE ANNIVERSARY

New York will play host to Toronto on 1 November, exactly 75 years to the day after the Knicks visited the then-Toronto Huskies in the first game of the Basketball Association of America’s inaugural season. The BAA was rebranded as the NBA three years later.

CELEBRATING LONGEVITY

New York, Boston and Golden State (which began as the Philadelphia Warriors) are the only three franchises that have been part of all 75 NBA seasons, and they’ll all face off in mid-December in nationally televised games. Golden State is at New York on 14 December, then the Warriors play at Boston on 17 December, and the Knicks visit the Celtics on 18 December.

WELCOME HOME

The Raptors haven’t played in Toronto since 28 February, 2020. They’ll be back on 20 October against Washington. The NBA gave the Raptors five home contests in their first six games of this season, so there will be plenty of time for Toronto fans to see their team again finally.

CHRISTMAS

The NBA revealed the 25 December games earlier this week: Atlanta at New York, Boston at Milwaukee, Golden State at Phoenix, Brooklyn at the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas at Utah.

MLK DAY

The NBA will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with an all-day, 12-game slate on 17 January that includes the traditional home games for Memphis and Atlanta: New Orleans at Boston, Charlotte at New York, Philadelphia at Washington, Brooklyn at Cleveland, Chicago at Memphis, Indiana at the Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee at Atlanta, Portland at Orlando, Toronto at Miami, Oklahoma City at Dallas, Phoenix at San Antonio and Utah at the Los Angeles Lakers.

SUPER SUNDAY

If the Falcons, Patriots, Vikings or Colts make the Super Bowl, fans in those cities may find themselves watching an NBA game instead of an NFL pregame show. The only two NBA games on 13 February this season are Atlanta at Boston and Minnesota at Indiana.

FINALS REMATCHES

As expected, the 2021 NBA Finals rematches between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns will be nationally televised. Milwaukee goes to Phoenix on 10 February; the Suns visit the Bucks on 6 March.

WILT NIGHT

The Knicks will be part of another milestone game on 2 March: They’ll visit the Philadelphia 76ers exactly 60 years after Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points to lead the Philadelphia Warriors past the Knicks in a game played at Hershey, Pennsylvania.

NO GAMES

The NBA has no games scheduled for 25 November (Thanksgiving), 24 December (Christmas Eve) and 4 April (the date of the NCAA men’s basketball Division I national championship game). The last games before the All-Star break are 17 February, All-Star weekend is 18-20 February and then no games are played again until 24 February.

LOWRY RETURNS

Kyle Lowry returns to Toronto for the first time as a member of the Miami Heat on 3 February. Lowry spent nine seasons with the Raptors, helping them win the 2019 NBA title. He joined the Heat in a sign-and-trade earlier this month. The first time Lowry will oppose the Raptors is 17 January in Miami.

RODEO TRIP

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo returns 10-27 February — and that means the Spurs are packing their bags for a long time. They’ll go 27 days between home games, from 4 February through 3 March, playing eight road games in a span that also covers the All-Star break. (The All-Star Game is 20 February in Cleveland.) San Antonio also has an unusual stretch earlier in the season: a seven-game road trip from 31 December through 10 January, followed by a seven-game homestand from 12 January through 23 January.

GRAMMY TRIP

The Lakers and Clipper must vacate Staples Center for the last couple of weeks of January in preparation for the Grammy Awards on 31 January. The Lakers play six consecutive road games in that span, the Clippers eight in a row — and when the Clippers finally do get back home, they’ll play host to the Lakers.

LONGESTS

The Clippers’ eight-game trip to close January is the longest uninterrupted road swing this season. Washington and Golden State have the longest homestands, an eight-game stretch for each (11-25 January for Washington, 28 October - 12 November for Golden State).

GLOBAL GAME

The NBA said 46 weekend games will air in prime time in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

LAST DAY

All 30 teams are scheduled to play 10 April, the final day of the regular season. The play-in tournament begins two days later and continues through 15 April. The playoffs begin 16 April, and the 2022 NBA Finals are scheduled to start 2 June.