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The NBA unveiled its opening week national TV schedule, and the Clippers — Western conference finalists a year ago — were rewarded with a spot on the league’s first TNT Thursday.
The season tips off on Tuesday, October 19, and the Clippers get their first national television date two days later against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers will be traveling to the Golden State in what should be the first-ever full capacity Warriors game at the Chase Center. The first game in the night’s double header is between the other losing conference finalist, Atlanta, and Dallas.
L.A. and Golden State have a tendency to meet up on big national TV dates. All three of their meetings in 2020-21 were nationally televised, and they had a series of Christmas meetings earlier in the 2010s.
The Warriors will be playing on the NBA’s premier holiday again, but the Clippers were left out of the five-game slate for the first time in three years. The West will be represented by Golden State, Phoenix, the Lakers, Dallas, and Utah. This is the first time in the Kawhi Leonard era that the Clippers have Christmas off, but with Leonard presumably unavailable in December, the Clippers were also uninvited.
The NBA will feature five games on Christmas Day (Saturday, Dec. 25) for the 14th year in a row, with ESPN or ABC televising each matchup. pic.twitter.com/IEvOgFkXCQ
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) August 17, 2021
Playing on Christmas is something of a status symbol on the league, but the Clippers surely won’t mind being able to spend the holiday with their families. A year ago, they had to delay their celebrations after being in Denver on Christmas, and they came out flat the next day. Hopefully, they avoid that lull this time around.
The rest of the regular-season schedule is set to be released on Friday at noon PT.
More news for Wednesday:
- Patrick Beverley’s stay in Memphis was short-lived, as the Grizzlies have traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
- Marc Stein has some Daniel Oturu stats in his latest newsletter.
- The NBA has floated the idea of a midseason tournament for a little while, and the WNBA has provided the roadmap.
- Gregg Popovich had an emotional speech for the locker room after Team USA won the gold medal in Tokyo.
- The Clippers have partnered with Socios, a blockchain company.
- Ricky O’Donnell ranked the 13 best rookies in Summer League. Brandon Boston Jr. erasure.