After trickling out a few dates earlier in the week, the NBA officially released its 2018-19 regular-season schedule on Friday afternoon. There are plenty of notable dates for the Warriors and their fans. Here are the highlights.
— The Warriors open the season against the Thunder on Oct. 16 in Oracle Arena, where there is a 99.8 percent chance that Russell Westbrook keeps his Thunder teammates in the locker room, stewing, while the Warriors receive their 2017-18 NBA championship rings pregame.
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The two rivals only meet two more times after that, with the Thunder returning to Oracle on Nov. 21 and the Warriors making their lone trip to Oklahoma City on March 16. The NBA cut the KD-to-OKC drama in half this season.
— The Warriors also face the Spurs, Pelicans and Jazz only three times, while facing the rest of the West teams four times and all the East teams twice.
— This will be the fourth straight season the Warriors will face LeBron James on both Christmas and MLK Day, two of the league’s marquee dates. This season, of course, LeBron is on the Lakers, not the Cavaliers.
That Christmas game — also known as JaVale McGee tribute video night in Oracle — will be the first meeting between the two teams (not counting their two preseason games), a buildup the NBA concocted. The other three meetings: Jan. 21 (MLK Day) in Los Angeles, Feb. 2 in Oakland and April 4 in Los Angeles.
— Of note about that Christmas game: It’s a later tip this season, starting at 5 p.m. local time, not the typical afternoon game on ABC. The reason: The NBA isn’t going up against the NFL like the past few years (Christmas is on a Tuesday), so the league’s preference would be to put marquee game in primetime without another notable sporting event on the calendar.
— The first Western Conference finals rematch between the Warriors and Rockets comes in Houston on Nov. 15. The Rockets come to Oakland on Jan. 3 and Feb. 23. The Warriors go back to Houston on March 13.
— The Warriors will spend New Year’s Eve facing the Suns in Phoenix.
— JaVale gets his tribute on Christmas, while Zaza Pachulia gets his on March 24 when the Pistons visit Oracle.
— The Warriors only have 13 back-to-backs, down from 14 a season ago and 17 a season before that, which has been a recent emphasis from the NBA.
Only one of those 13 back-to-backs has a national TV game on the second night, something the Warriors pushed for two seasons ago after they were scolded for resting all their stars on an ABC Saturday night game in San Antonio, having played in Minnesota the night before.
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That lone national TV game is on the rough side of a back-to-back: at home against the Pelicans on Jan. 16th. The Warriors play in Denver the night before, picking up an extra hour in the air on their way back.
— The most notable preseason game is in Seattle on Oct. 6, a Saturday night, against the Kings. It’ll be the first NBA game in Seattle since the Sonics left a decade ago. Kevin Durant was a rookie for the Sonics that final season.
— The Warriors’ longest road trip of the season is five games, which they do twice. The first one starts in late November, stretching from Toronto to Detroit to Atlanta to Cleveland to Milwaukee over nine days.
The second is a bit easier and a bit warmer, at least at the start. It opens in Los Angeles against the Clippers on Friday, Jan. 21. The Warriors then get the entire weekend off in LA (uh oh) before facing the Lakers in Staples Center that Monday. They then get two more days off before continuing the road trip in Washington, D.C., and then Boston and then Indianapolis.
— Maybe the roughest travel stretch of the schedule comes right after the opener, when the Warriors play seven games in 11 nights in six cities: at Utah on Oct. 19, at Denver on Oct. 21, at home against the Suns on Oct. 22, at home against the Wizards on Oct. 24, in New York on Oct. 26, in Brooklyn on Oct. 28 and in Chicago on Oct. 29.
— The Warriors finish the season with five of their last seven games in California, but the final two games are crunched into a back-to-back in New Orleans and Memphis on April 9 and 10. Assuming the Warriors clinch their playoff seeding by then, there’s a decent chance their big names will rest in those games and possibly don’t even make the trip.
Maybe that Pelicans game is the night to uncork DeMarcus Cousins in his old stomping grounds as the lone All-Star, let him toss up 35 shots and get some confidence flowing before his first career playoff game.
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— Steph Curry’s annual visit to Charlotte: Feb. 25, a week after he will (very likely) be there for All-Star weekend.
— Durant’s annual trip to D.C. and the Warriors’ annual trip to somewhere that isn’t the White House: Jan. 24.
Click here for the full schedule.
(Top photo: Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
