NBA Announces Schedule for 2024-25 Season

The NBA has officially unveiled the complete schedule for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

NEW YORK – The NBA today released its complete game schedule and broadcast schedules for TNT, ESPN, ABC, NBA TV and ESPN Radio for the 2024-25 regular season. The day-by-day and team-by-team schedules are attached and available at NBA.com/schedule. Fans can purchase tickets to games at NBATickets.com.

The 79th NBA regular season will tip off on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, and conclude on Sunday, April 13, 2025.  The SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament 2025 will take place from Tuesday, April 15 – Friday, April 18, followed by the start of the NBA Playoffs 2025 presented by Google Pixel on Saturday, April 19. Game 1 of the NBA Finals 2025 presented by YouTube TV is set for Thursday, June 5.

The regular-season schedule includes defined dates and opponents for 80 of each team’s 82 games, along with two games designated as TBD dates and opponents. Those two games for each team, to be played Dec. 10-16, will be determined based on the results of Group Play games in the Emirates NBA Cup 2024. The Group Play schedule, which comprises 60 games that will be played on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 12 – Dec. 3, was announced on Aug. 13.

Kia NBA Tip-Off 2024

The first five days of the 2024-25 NBA regular season (Oct. 22-26) will feature 11 national television games as part of Kia NBA Tip-Off 2024, with two doubleheaders each on TNT and ESPN and a tripleheader on NBA TV.

The regular season will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 22 with a doubleheader on TNT. In the first game, the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics will receive their championship rings and unveil their record 18th championship banner before hosting the New York Knicks in a matchup of last season’s top two playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference (7:30 p.m. ET). In the second game, the Minnesota Timberwolves – coming off the second-best regular season in franchise history and their first Western Conference Finals appearance in 20 years – will visit the Los Angeles Lakers as NBA all-time scoring leader LeBron James of the Lakers starts his record-tying 22nd NBA regular season (10 p.m. ET).

ESPN’s doubleheader on Wednesday, Oct. 23 will tip off with nine-time NBA All-Star Paul George making his regular-season debut with the Philadelphia 76ers as they host the Milwaukee Bucks, who defeated Philadelphia 118-117 in the 2023-24 regular-season opener for both teams (7:30 p.m. ET). Then, the LA Clippers will play their first regular-season game at their new home arena, Intuit Dome, when they take on the Phoenix Suns (10 p.m. ET).

In TNT’s doubleheader on Thursday, Oct. 24, the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks will open with a home game against the San Antonio Spurs as five-time NBA All-Star Klay Thompson plays his first regular-season game with the Mavericks and 12-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul begins his 20th NBA season and makes his regular-season debut with the Spurs (7:30 p.m. ET). Next, last season’s top two playoff seeds in the Western Conference and top two players in the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting will square off when reigning MVP Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets host 2023-24 MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder (10 p.m. ET).

On Friday, Oct. 25, ESPN’s second doubleheader of Kia NBA Tip-Off 2024 will have a rematch of last season’s seven-game Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Knicks and Indiana Pacers in New York (7:30 p.m. ET), followed by the Suns visiting the Lakers (10 p.m. ET).

NBA TV will begin its live game coverage of the new season with three games on Saturday, Oct. 26: Clippers at Nuggets (5 p.m. ET), Orlando Magic at Memphis Grizzlies (8 p.m. ET) and Sacramento Kings at Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET).

Christmas Day

The NBA will feature five games on Christmas Day (Wednesday, Dec. 25) for the 17th year in a row, with ESPN platforms televising each matchup. The 77th edition of the NBA on Christmas Day will tip off on ESPN as the Spurs face the Knicks in New York in a first-time matchup on Christmas Day (noon ET).

The second game will also be a first-time matchup on Christmas Day as last season’s Western Conference Finals participants go head-to-head when the Timberwolves visit the Mavericks on both ABC and ESPN (2:30 p.m. ET). On Christmas Day last year, Dallas guard Luka Dončić became the first player in NBA history to have at least 50 points, 15 assists, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks in a game since steals and blocks were first recorded in the 1973-74 season.

ABC and ESPN will also air the next two games as the Celtics host the 76ers (5 p.m. ET) and the Lakers visit the Warriors (8 p.m. ET), marking the first scheduled matchups of the season for both division rivalries. The Christmas Day schedule will conclude on ESPN when the Suns host the Nuggets (10:30 p.m. ET). When the teams met on Christmas Day in 2022 in Denver, the Nuggets defeated the Suns 128-125 in overtime behind 41 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists from Jokić – the fourth 40/15/15 performance in a game in NBA history.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

On Monday, Jan. 20, the NBA family will celebrate one of its most important traditions by honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The celebration will include three nationally televised games.

In a TNT doubleheader, Memphis will host Minnesota (2:30 p.m. ET) and Boston will meet Golden State in San Francisco in a rematch of the NBA Finals 2022 (5 p.m. ET). Prior to those matchups, Dallas will visit the Charlotte Hornets on NBA TV (noon ET).

NBA Rivals Week

Classic and budding rivalries between teams and players will take center stage for the third annual NBA Rivals Week in January. Rivalries will be the focus of 10 nationally televised games across four networks (TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV) over five days from Tuesday, Jan. 21 – Saturday, Jan. 25.

NBA Rivals Week will culminate with three games on ABC on Jan. 25, highlighted by Dallas hosting the first matchup between the Mavericks and Celtics since the NBA Finals 2024 (5:30 p.m. ET). The tripleheader will begin with a Western Conference Semifinals 2024 rematch between the Timberwolves and Nuggets in Minnesota (3 p.m. ET) and conclude with the Lakers visiting the Warriors (8:30 p.m. ET).

The complete game and broadcast schedule for NBA Rivals Week is available here.

Election Day

For the third consecutive season, no NBA games have been scheduled for Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 5) as the league will continue to encourage fans and the broader NBA community to make a plan to vote and participate in the civic process.  As part of this initiative, the NBA will share important resources from voting organizations and highlight the civic engagement work of teams in their markets.

All 30 NBA teams will be in action on the day before Election Day (Monday, Nov. 4).  The first game of the night will tip off at 7 p.m. ET, and all subsequent matchups will begin 15 minutes apart.

Final Week of Regular Season

Like last season, all 30 NBA teams will play on the third-to-last day (Friday, April 11) and the final day (Sunday, April 13) of the regular season, and no games have been scheduled for the second-to-last day (Saturday, April 12).

On April 13, in an effort to maximize competitive fairness, the seven games between Eastern Conference teams will begin at 1 p.m. ET, and the seven games between Western Conference teams and the one cross-conference game will start at 3:30 p.m. ET.  ESPN will televise a doubleheader, with the matchups to be determined at a later date.

NBA Global Games

NBA TV will televise both The NBA Mexico City Game 2024 between the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards on Saturday, Nov. 2 (9:30 p.m. ET) and the opener of The NBA Paris Games 2025 between Indiana and San Antonio on Thursday, Jan. 23 (2 p.m. ET).  The Pacers and Spurs will also meet on Saturday, Jan. 25 in their second and final game in Paris, airing on ESPN (noon ET).

More National Television Matchups

Additional Schedule Highlights