The NBA released its national TV schedule for both the opening week and Christmas Day of the 2021-22 season, during which the league will be celebrating its 75th anniversary. Interesting matchups are plentiful, but a few stand out as truly must-see games.
NBA TV Schedule: Opening Week
Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks (TNT) – 7:30 PM ET, October 19th
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The Bucks are looking forward to raising a long-awaited championship banner after an offseason spent resigning key bench piece Bobby Portis and improving their depth. However, NBA schedule-makers are not giving them an easy win to cap off the night; the Nets are the exact opposite. Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Kevin Durant will look to silence critics and get revenge after an injury-plagued season ended with a second-round loss to the Bucks. In addition to their big three, returning key pieces Blake Griffin and Bruce Brown and adding veterans DeAndre’ Bembry, Patty Mills, Jevon Carter, and James Johnson will help the Nets push for a ring.
If it wasn’t enough for the NBA to give us a potential conference finals preview on opening night, there’s also bad blood that could add some fire to this matchup. James Harden has famously made some pointed criticisms in the past regarding Giannis’ game:
James Harden addresses the comments Giannis made during the All-Star draft about assists: "I average more assists him than him, I think….I don't see what the joke is."
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) February 28, 2020
Later: "But I wish I could just run and be 7 feet and just dunk." https://t.co/vRKMXpr3Wp pic.twitter.com/ecOzFoDsiQ
Giannis will surely be looking to put on a dominant performance and shut Harden up with these comments in mind. If that’s not enough, he’ll also be raising a championship banner that he won a Finals MVP in service of. All things considered, I can’t wait to see these two heated rivals duke it out in an opening-night matchup between two of the best teams in the league featuring multiple former MVPs.
Denver Nuggets at Pheonix Suns (ESPN) – 10:00 PM ET, October 20th
In addition to an opening night game between two of the best teams in the East, the league is giving us two of the best in the West going at it on night two. The defending Western Conference champion Suns made some depth additions this offseason but most importantly brought back Chris Paul to pair with Devin Booker in one of the best backcourts in the league. Similarly, the Nuggets are essentially running it back this year after finishing with the best record in the West last season. Nikola Jokic will be looking to repeat his MVP performance from last year when he averaged 26.4 PPG, 10.8 RPG, and 8.3 AST.
Just like the Bucks-Nets matchup, this one will feature two teams with no love lost for each other. The Suns handily defeated the Nuggets in last year’s playoffs in a series that ended on a very physical note:
Jokic got ejected after this hard foul on Payne ???? pic.twitter.com/EvG1Dfvuub
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 14, 2021
The Nuggets look to avenge their crushing playoff loss while the Suns hope to assert their place as a top team in the West. This game has everything a fan could want, featuring immensely talented players and a heated rivalry. It will definitely be worth it for my fellow East-coasters and I to pull a late night for this one.
Dallas Mavericks at Atlanta Hawks (TNT) – 7:30 PM ET, October 21st
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Later in the week, fans will be treated to Luka Doncic and Trae Young duking it out in primetime. The two will be forever linked by the draft-night trade that sent them to Dallas and Atlanta. However, as our own Sol Gutierrez argues, neither team can be considered the loser of the deal. Despite losing to the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs last year, the Mavs can be confident that Luka is the face of the franchise after averaging 27.7 PPG, 8 RPG, and 8.6 AST. Trae has similarly established himself as the face of the Hawks after averaging 28.8 PPG and 9.5 AST in their run to the Eastern Conference Finals. Both teams will be looking to take the next step towards contending for a championship behind their incredibly skilled stars, and they’ll put on a show for fans in the first week of the season.
Trae and Luka are already must-see on their own, but together they’ll put on a tremendous display of skill to ring in the new season. In its 75th season, the NBA is giving us a look at the league’s future to open the season when these two young stars match up. The opening week features some great matchups, but the league saved some for Christmas Day as well.
NBA TV Schedule: Christmas Day
Atlanta Hawks at New York Knicks (ESPN) – 12:00 PM ET, December 25th
NBA fans receive quite the gift on Christmas morning with a heated rivalry between the Knicks and Hawks. New York had a busy offseason, bringing back some key pieces while improving their backcourt with newcomers Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier. If their season goes as planned, they’ll be in the midst of the playoff hunt led by Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau and Most Improved Player Julius Randle. In addition, they’ll be looking for revenge after the Hawks decisively beat them in the playoffs.
What makes this matchup especially exciting is that it’s in the Garden, so Knicks fans should be out in full force to show their hatred for Trae Young and the Hawks, just as they did during the playoffs. Of course, we can expect Trae to relish the chance to play in front of a hostile crowd as well, as he strongly embraced the villain role in MSG:
"It got real quiet at the end…"
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 24, 2021
–@TheTraeYoung joins the TNT crew after his game-winner in MSG. #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/MQY3hP9yNo
I’m sure Knicks fans will be just as eager to give Trae those chants as he is to hear them again. As a Knicks fan myself, I’m hoping to find my way to the Garden for this one, but if not, I’ll be glued to my couch for sure. However, even NBA fans without a rooting interest should be sure to tune in for an intense matchup between two up-and-coming teams featuring one of the most exciting players in the game.
Golden State Warriors at Pheonix Suns (ABC) – 5:00 PM ET, December 25th
Later in the day, we’ll be treated to an exciting game between likely playoff teams in the West. While Pheonix will be in the midst of their conference championship defense, the Warriors will seek to prove that they are still a championship contender despite failing to add any veteran stars in the offseason. Golden State instead added two talented rookies in Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, who have shown promise in the Summer League and should contribute right away. In addition, this game should be especially enticing to NBA fans after ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that Christmas Day is the targeted return date for Klay Thompson.
Klay’s return would not only be great for the Warriors but the league as a whole. As one of the best three-point shooters of our time, he could provide the Warriors with exactly what they need to make another championship run. If Klay is back on Christmas, he’ll reconnect with Stephen Curry in one of the greatest backcourts of all time. Similarly, the Suns have a star-studded backcourt of their own featuring Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Warriors-Suns will already be can’t-miss, but Klay Thompson returning would make this a meaningful game for NBA fans.
Brooklyn Nets at Los Angeles Lakers (ABC/ESPN) – 8:00 PM ET, December 25th
Following Warriors-Suns, we’ll be given a game well-worthy of a primetime slot when the Nets travel to LA to play the Lakers. LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis taking on Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving is as must-see as it gets. By Christmas, both the Lakers and Nets should be at the top of their respective conferences as long as both stay healthy. The potential finals preview will feature a combined seven MVPs, four of which belong to LeBron James, who will be looking to reassert himself as the NBA’s best player after an injury-plagued season. Unfortunately, he may not be ready for a full move into the movie industry after Space Jam: A New Legacy failed to live up to the original, so he’ll need to prove he is still a force to be reckoned with.
The Lakers trade for Westbrook provides an added layer to the game, as he will surely be looking to put on a show against his former OKC teammates James Harden and Kevin Durant. However, this won’t be the only meeting between former teammates in this game. A timeline dating back to 2016 is necessary to note every chapter in the Lebron-Kyrie beef despite their championship run with the Cavaliers. I’m sure we’ll see an addition to this long-running saga when all eyes and cameras are on Los Angeles. Storylines abound in this game between perhaps the two most talented teams in the league, likely a precursor to a Finals series down the road. Overall, the schedule-makers provided plenty of great matchups for Opening Week and Christmas Day in the NBA TV schedule.
