The NBA season has finally arrived – and not a moment too soon – as we will finally get a chance to see how all the craziness of this offseason will play out on the court. After one of the most active summers in recent memory, there’s plenty of intrigue at the start of the season with regards to how new star teammates will look on the court together in meaningful minutes.
While plenty of players changed teams, the franchises battling for the top spots in both conferences are about the same. The Rockets, Thunder, and Spurs all figure to be the top challengers to the Warriors, with the Wolves as the expected newcomer to the mix. In the East, the Cavs and Celtics remain at the top despite massive turnover on both rosters, with Washington and Toronto staying almost exactly the same and holding steady in the next tier.
The season tips off on Tuesday night with a pair of highly anticipated matchups featuring arguably the top two teams in both conferences, with the first full night of basketball being Wednesday as 22 teams get their season started. Here, as we will do each Monday, we will run down the best NBA games each night of the week that you should be keeping your eye on.
Tuesday, Oct. 17
Celtics at Cavaliers, 8 p.m. ET, TNT and Rockets at Warriors, 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Tuesday night is easy. Park it on TNT and enjoy the first night of real NBA action since the Finals. This would have to be Magic-Bulls and Hawks-Nets for me to tell you to consider other things, but it’s not. It’s four of the six best teams in the NBA squaring off with storylines abound. It’s Kyrie Irving’s first game back in Cleveland and he’ll surely get quite the reaction from the crowd. The Rockets have a chance to prove they an compete with Golden State — or, more likely, the Warriors remind everyone that no one can touch them. Both games will set the tone in each conference and surely lead to wild overreactions, but that’s the fun of the start of the season.
Wednesday, Oct. 18
76ers at Wizards, 7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
We ought to get the first look at the Sixers’ starting unit at full strength. Joel Embiid has looked dominant at times in the preseason and even when he hasn’t been great on offense he’s been a monster with the trash talk. The Wizards have flown under the radar in the East this offseason having kept their team intact from a year ago, and they can send a message against the up-and-coming Sixers.
Bucks at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSB/FSWI/League Pass
The Celtics will be coming into this game off of an emotional opener in Cleveland and how they respond against a Bucks team many consider to be the most likely team in the East to threaten for a top 4 spot beyond that top four from last year. Giannis Antetokounmpo and company get a great chance to make a statement against Boston flying back in for a home game on the second night of a back-to-back.
Timberwolves at Spurs, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Kawhi Leonard’s absence makes this a weird game, but it’s still a chance for the new-look Wolves to announce their arrival as a contender in the West. The Spurs are uncanny in their ability to win games when a star sits out, so this isn’t some walkover without Leonard should the Wolves pull it off. We’ll want to see how Jeff Teague, Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl-Anthony Towns look against the league’s most consistent presence in the Spurs.
Thursday, Oct. 19
Knicks at Thunder, 8:00 p.m. ET, TNT
Another opener that features a star facing his old team, as Carmelo Anthony and the Thunder will take on the Knicks. This likely won’t go well for New York, but I don’t have much interest in the battle for L.A. going on later that night aside from watching early to see how Lonzo Ball looks, so this game gets the nod simply because Melo, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook taking on that Knicks defense could do some really fun things.
Friday, Oct. 20
Cavaliers at Bucks, 7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
The Bucks can either start the season really well against the Celtics and Cavs or set themselves back a bit if they don’t compete well. I’d bet on the former, considering when they catch both teams and think they’ll be competitive in both if not winning. Giannis vs. LeBron is always fun and something of a passing of the torch deal in the East.
Celtics at Sixers, 7:00 p.m. ET, CSNPA/NBCSB/League Pass
Whenever the Sixers play one of the top teams early in the season, it’s going to be worth watching, to at least figure out where the young Philly squad is relative to the best in the East. I also think the first three games of the season will be very interesting in terms of how their new pieces look together since all three games are against decent to very good opponents in the East. If Boston looks good early, which is rare for a team with that many new pieces, it could bode very well for their chances at swiping the top seed in the East again.
Jazz at Timberwolves, 8:00 p.m. ET, ATRM/FSN/League Pass
Rudy Gobert vs. Karl-Anthony Towns is really enough reason to put this game on League Pass Alert from the jump, but there’s also some intrigue into how good the Jazz will look post-Gordon Hayward. We know Gobert is the truth on defense, but they’ll be tested to keep up with a very powerful Wolves offense in this one and that will be a good early season marker for where this Utah offense is without their former star.
Saturday, Oct. 21
Warriors at Grizzlies, 8:00 p.m. ET, CSNBA/FSSE/NBATV
It’s not the strongest Saturday night of hoops, but Warriors-Grizzlies could be interesting, I guess. Memphis could be taking a step back this season, but they still have Mike Conley and Marc Gasol and have, traditionally, played their best against the best teams. This game might be fun for a few quarters before the inevitable Warriors’ onslaught takes over.
Thunder at Jazz, 9:00 p.m. ET, FSOK/ATRM/League Pass
Again, it’s not the best night of basketball on paper, but this is one of the West’s top teams up against one of those expected to be in the very competitive race for the final few seeds. We’ll find out what the gap between those two tiers looks like in this game, and it will be another chance to see the new-look Thunder, this time against a very good defensive ball club.
Sunday, October 22
Timberwolves at Thunder, 7:00 p.m. ET, FSOK/FSN/League Pass
I love everything about this matchup. It’s two teams with likely top 10 offenses and legitimate defensive question marks. I think this will be highly entertaining, up-and-down basketball featuring some of the most talented offensive basketball players in the league at nearly every position. This would be in my three favorite games of this week.
Pelicans at Lakers, 9:30 p.m. ET, SPEC/FSNO/League Pass
I’m not crazy about this game, but I haven’t put either of these teams on the list and we should check in on the AD-Boogie show and the Lonzo Ball show at some point, so why not at the same time. I think the Lakers will be actually fun to watch this year, I just know we’re going to see them a ton on national TV so I’m pumping the brakes on putting them on the list too many nights cause while fun, they still won’t be good.
