2019-20 NBA Schedule Released

2019-20 NBA Schedule
Kahwi Leonard’s Los Angeles Clippers will face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on the opening night of the season, right after Zion Williamson’s New Orleans Pelicans play at the defending champion Toronto Raptors. The full 2019-20 NBA schedule was released Monday. (John E. Sokolowski/USA Today Sports)

On Monday, the 2019-20 NBA schedule was released.

Here are the highlights of the schedule, per a press release distributed to NBA media:

In an effort to present national television games to the largest possible audience, the NBA worked closely with its teams and domestic broadcast partners to schedule earlier start times for doubleheaders. This season, 12 of TNT’s 31 doubleheaders and 22 of ESPN’s 36 doubleheaders will tip off at 7:30/10 p.m. ET or 7/9:30 p.m. ET instead of 8/10:30 p.m. ET. The number of doubleheaders at 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. ET on the two networks has been reduced by a combined 42 percent from last season (57 in 2018-19 compared with 33 in 2019-20).

TNT: The 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. ET starts for TNT’s Tuesday doubleheaders have been reduced from nine last season to two this season. Of the network’s 12 Tuesday doubleheaders this season, nine will begin at 7:30 p.m./10 p.m. ET and one will tip off at 7 p.m./9:30 p.m. ET.

ESPN: There will be no 8 p.m./10:30 p.m. ET Wednesday doubleheaders on ESPN this season, down from 18 last season. Of the network’s 21 Wednesday doubleheaders this season, 15 are scheduled for 7:30 p.m./10 p.m. ET and six are set for 7 p.m./9:30 p.m. ET.

Instances of teams playing games on back-to-back days will be an all-time low for the fifth straight season. Teams will play an average of 12.4 back-to-backs in the 2019-20 season, down 36 percent since the 2014-15 season (19.3 per team) and a 7 percent reduction from last season (13.3 per team).

For the third season in a row, no team is scheduled to play a stretch with four games in five days.

A record 48 games will air in primetime in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with 24 games each on Saturday and Sunday. Those regions will have a full slate of primetime games on both Saturday and Sunday for the first time.

The NBA will again label its schedule by week to enhance fans’ ability to follow the 1,230-game regular season. Starting with Week 1 and ending with Week 26, each week will run Monday through Sunday.

The NBA on TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV will present flexible scheduling throughout the regular season to provide the most compelling matchups to a national audience.

The fifth season of NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC will premiere on Jan. 18 (see below for more).

The first three nights of the season will feature doubleheaders on TNT.

Opening night – Oct. 22 – will have The New Orleans Pelicans at the Toronto Raptors at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the Lakers and Clippers clashing at Staples center at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The following night will see the Boston Celtics play at the Philadelphia 76ers – at 7:30 p.m. ET – followed by the Denver Nuggets at the Portland Trail Blazers at 10 p.m. ET.

On Oct. 24, the Milwaukee Bucks will play at Houston at 8 p.m. ET, and the Clippers will play at the Golden State Warriors at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Oct. 25 also will have a doubleheader, this one on ESPN. The Dallas Mavericks will play at the Pelicans at 8 p.m. ET, and the Utah Jazz will play at the Lakers at 10:30 p.m. ET.

There will be a tripleheader on Oct. 26: Miami at Milwaukee at 5 p.m. ET, Boston at New York at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Clippers at Phoenix at 10 p.m. ET.

Further facts about the schedule:

David Morrow is Def Pen's lead NBA Writer & Editor. You may contact him at [email protected]

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