NBA schedule release: Champion Celtics open vs. Knicks

The Boston Celtics will raise their 18th championship banner on Oct. 22 before hosting the rival New York Knicks for the first game of the 2024-25 NBA season.

The NBA released the complete schedule for the regular season on Thursday after revealing the Emirates NBA Cup (in-season tournament) schedule earlier this week.

A doubleheader on the card the first night of the season opens with Boston-New York followed by the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Lakers are a main dish for Christmas Day for the 26th consecutive season -- visiting the Golden State Warriors -- and a star attraction in primetime again this season, appearing on national television 39 times with 11 games on TNT, 10 games on ESPN, six games on ABC and 12 games on NBA TV.

The Philadelphia 76ers will debut their new Big Three -- with Paul George in the mix alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey -- on Oct. 23 against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.

That same night, the Los Angeles Clippers will christen their new home arena against the Phoenix Suns. George will visit the Clippers, his old team, just two weeks later when the Sixers play at Los Angeles on Nov. 6.

The Dallas Mavericks also have a new Big Three to show off after they landed Klay Thompson to hoop with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Their season debut comes Oct. 24 at home against the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama.

As revealed earlier this week, Thompson will meet his old team, the Warriors, on Nov. 12 in San Francisco to kick off the group stage of the NBA Cup.

In addition to Lakers at Warriors, the NBA stacked its usual five-game, nationally televised slate with these matchups: Spurs at Knicks, Timberwolves at Mavericks, 76ers at Celtics and Denver Nuggets at Suns, which follows the Steph Curry-LeBron James duel.

All-Star Weekend is slated for Feb. 14-16 in San Francisco, shortly after the Feb. 6 trade deadline. The regular season will wrap up April 13.

--Field Level Media