The NBA announced the full schedules for all 30 teams on Monday night and there are naturally some games that stand out above the rest. There are the massive matchups for Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as the NBA has made those two holidays into two of the biggest days of the league calendar.
There’s also the national TV schedule, which gives priority games to its national broadcast partners that pay billions to the league for the rights to televise the biggest games. That is reflected in the massive number of games featuring the Warriors, Rockets, Cavaliers, Thunder, and Lakers that will be on ESPN, TNT, and ABC next season, but there are also some premier games that don’t pit the very best against each other that will still make for must-see TV.
I’m talking about revenge games, that pit either a team against a rival that beat them in the playoffs the year before or a player returning to a former squad where there may be some hurt feelings on one side or the other. Those games also get prime placement, as the league knows that fans love that added bit of emotion. While there won’t be anything quite like Kevin Durant’s return to Oklahoma City a year ago, there are still a number of great revenge games coming up in the 2017-18 season.
8. Timberwolves at Bulls, Feb. 9, 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN
Chicago’s only game on a major network this season is Jimmy Butler’s return to face the Bulls after they sent him to Minnesota at the draft — also, Taj Gibson’s return to Chicago. Butler hasn’t seamed especially pleased with the way everything went down with his departure from Chicago, but he’s also not super angry about it. Bulls fans are far more upset with their front office than they are Butler (who most adored), so this could just be a chance for Butler to get an ovation from the crowd and also show up GarPax in their house.
7. Thunder at Pacers, Dec. 13, 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN
Paul George’s return to Indiana will be interesting and likely a bit contentious as Pacers fans will not be thrilled with the way their former star pushed his way out of town. While he was kind enough to give them a heads up that he’d be leaving next summer, George forcing Indiana’s hand certainly diminished his trade value. Now he’s paired up with Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, and his return to Indiana is the Pacers’ lone major network game of the season.
6. Rockets at Clippers, Jan. 15, 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT
Like Paul George, Chris Paul pushed out of Los Angeles for the opportunity to play alongside James Harden in Houston. Paul was the face of the Clippers franchise for years, dragging them out of obscurity and into a perennial playoff team. While the Clippers never got over the hump to the Western Conference Finals with Paul, fans ought to remember his time there fondly. That said, when he comes back with the Rockets for the first time, the reception at Staples will likely not be completely positive. This game is far more likely to be somewhat competitive, unlike George’s return to Indiana, which lands it a higher spot.
5. Celtics at Wizards, Dec. 25, 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and Feb. 8, 8:00 ET on TNT
This one, I couldn’t choose between the first meeting in Boston or the first meeting in Washington, so I took both. This was the most interesting playoff series of last year in terms of chippiness between the two sides, and both teams struggled mightily on the road. This is arguably the best rivalry in the East right now, until Boston can prove it can compete with the Cavaliers in the playoffs, and I expect some tomfoolery from both sides in some very fun and competitive games.
4. Rockets at Thunder, Dec. 25, 8:oo p.m. ET on ABC
The Thunder did not fare well in their first round series with the Rockets last year as Russell Westbrook’s MVP caliber play wasn’t enough to take down James Harden in Houston. For Westbrook and the Thunder, with new addition Paul George, it’s a chance to prove they’re now one of the big boys in the West that will have to be reckoned with. For Harden and the Rockets, with new addition Chris Paul, this will be a chance to show they are still the superior team and bringing George on hasn’t closed the gap on them. Also, it’s Harden’s chance to exact some revenge on Russ for taking home the MVP over him.
3. Celtics at Jazz, Mar. 28, 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Of all the players that left their teams this summer, none hurt their former team more than the Gordon Hayward going to the Celtics in free agency. That move left the Jazz scrambling for answers and without its star on the wing. Utah’s fans were hurt, as was fellow star Rudy Gobert, and this figures to be the most contentious return trip of any on the schedule for a player that left a team this offseason. Where Paul and George at least left in trades, the Jazz got nothing back for Hayward and are now forced to pick up the pieces. This game could get oddly chippy, and may have serious playoff implications for Utah, which will be among those scrapping for the final playoff seeds in the highly competitive West.
2. Warriors at Cavaliers, Jan. 15, 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN
This will be the second meeting of the two teams on the season, with the first coming in Oakland on Christmas, but the MLK Jr. Day meeting will be the lone one in Cleveland on the season — NBA Finals, pending — and it will be the Cavs’ only chance to avenge their Finals disappointment at home. Every Cavs-Warriors meeting seems to make for tremendous watching, and there’s no reason to expect this one to be any different.
1b. Pelicans at Kings, Oct. 26, 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT
This will be DeMarcus Cousins’ first trip back to Sacramento since he was unceremoniously traded to New Orleans on the night of the All-Star Game last season. The reaction from the Kings crowd will be interesting to watch, as Cousins was a polarizing figure while he was their star, but more intriguing to me will be how the Pelicans will feed Cousins to let him dominate. Teammates always know when one of their own is going back to an old team and they tend to try and let them shine. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was an all-time Boogie performance as New Orleans tries their best to let him cook his old team.
1a. Whatever Team Kyrie Irving Is Traded To at Cavaliers, TBD, TBD
I’m going to preemptively put this here, because it will be absolute pandemonium in Cleveland when Kyrie comes back in another team’s uniform. Cousins returning has a lot of bitterness from the player side, but this will feature the most bitterness from the fans and former teammates, namely LeBron James. James will do everything in his power to show Kyrie he made a terrible mistake, which means we will get peak LeBron, who is the most fun player in the NBA. I’m very excited for this game, whenever it happens.
