NBA season openers include Timberwolves at Lakers

The NBA will open its 2024-25 season with the reigning champion Boston Celtics hosting New York and the Los Angeles Lakers hosting Minnesota in a schedule unveiled on Thursday.

The 79th NBA regular season tips off with those contests on Tuesday, Oct. 22 and concludes on April 13, 2025, when all 30 teams play.

The Celtics will unfurl an 18th NBA championship banner before facing the Knicks in a matchup of the top two Eastern Conference playoff seeds last season.

All-time NBA scoring leader LeBron James will begin a record-tying 22nd league campaign when the Lakers play host to Minnesota, with the Timberwolves coming off their second-best season and a first trip in 20 years to the Western Conference final.

The NBA playoffs will begin on April 19, after play-in games April 15-18, with the best-of-seven NBA Finals set to start on June 5.

Each team will play 82 regular-season games, with some matchups to be determined as a result of the NBA Cup, the in-season tournament that begins Nov. 12 and concludes in December in Las Vegas.

On Oct. 23, the second day of the NBA campaign, nine-time NBA All-Star Paul George makes his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers play their first game in their new home arena, the Intuit Dome, against Phoenix.

Reigning Western Conference champion Dallas, with new guard Klay Thompson, will play host on Oct. 24 to San Antonio, a team that features reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and new Spurs guard Chris Paul, who is starting his 20th NBA campaign.

That night also sees Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder visit reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

On Oct. 25, Phoenix will visit the Lakers and Indiana will face New York.

The NBA will stage five games on Christmas: San Antonio at New York, Minnesota at Dallas, the Lakers at Golden State, Philadelphia at Boston and Denver at Phoenix.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 20) will feature Minnesota at Memphis, Boston at Golden State and Dallas at Charlotte.

An NBA rivals week will be staged Jan. 21-25 with the final day seeing Boston at Dallas in a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals plus Denver at Minnesota and the Lakers at Golden State.

The NBA will have no games on Nov. 5, U.S. Election Day, in a bid to encourage fans to vote. All 30 teams will play on Nov. 4.

The NBA will also stage games in Mexico City on Nov. 2 between the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards and on Jan. 23 and 25, 2025, in Paris between Indiana and San Antonio.

George, who played with the Clippers the past five seasons, will visit his former club with his new 76ers’ teammates on Nov. 6.

Thompson will lead Dallas into San Francisco on Nov. 12 to face his former club, the Golden State Warriors.

Wembanyama, last year’s top pick in the NBA Draft, and this year’s first selection, and fellow Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks are set to play against each other on Dec. 19 in San Antonio and Feb. 5 at Atlanta.

The 2025 NBA All-Star Game will be played on Feb. 16 at Chase Center in San Francisco.