The entirety of the NBA's 2024-25 regular season schedule has officially been released. While the difficulties within a schedule do not vary as much in the NBA as they do in the NFL, there are still some factors always worth evaluating -- some for the sake of material benefits and drawbacks, some for the sake of entertainment.
What do you need to know from the Sixers' 82-game slate, which can be found here? Let's break it down:
Back-to-backs
The NBA has recently started making an effort to limit back-to-backs for each team -- as well as instances of teams playing three games in four nights. Theoretically, such a change should impact all organizations equally; each team always plays roughly the same amount of back-to-backs during a season with a few outliers in each direction. But for a Sixers team built around Joel Embiid, the reduction of back-to-backs across the league is particularly beneficial.
The Sixers will play on back-to-back nights on 15 occasions in 2024-25. Last season, they had 11 back-to-backs -- this is a fairly significant increase.
National TV games
The Sixers were only scheduled for 17 games on national TV in 2023-24 (ESPN, ABC, TNT), a noticeable decline from the year prior. But the team's addition of Paul George -- and its expected impact on the Eastern Conference race -- appears to have led to that figure rising again in 2024-25: the Sixers are currently slated to play 21 games across the league's three major networks.
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Keep in mind that midway through the season, the league begins "flexing" games on and off major stations depending on fan interest in upcoming games, so this number could theoretically grow or shrink over the course of the season.
NBA Cup games
The team's NBA Cup group play schedule was announced earlier this week, and their group-mates were announced last month. Here are the team's initial four NBA Cup games -- the outcomes of these will determine whether or not they advance to the Knockout Rounds. You will notice that the full schedule only has 80 games right now; that is accounting for teams that will play two games in the Knockout Rounds (teams who do not qualify are assigned two games later on).
• Nov. 12 vs. New York Knicks, 7:30PM
• Nov. 15 @ Orlando Magic, 7:00PM
• Nov. 22 vs. Brooklyn Nets, 7:00PM
• Dec. 3 @ Charlotte Hornets, 7:00PM
Clearly, the first game against New York will be pivotal as the Sixers try to win their group and secure a spot in the eight-team, single-elimination bracket. Having home-court advantage for that contest could be crucial. But do not count out the young Orlando Magic, who continue to ascend in the Eastern Conference pecking order.
Eastern Conference schedule
Each NBA team plays the other teams in their division four times per season and the teams in their opposing conference twice a year. But then, schedules begin to vary a bit. Each year, there are six in-conference opponents not in a team's division that said team faces three times instead of four. Naturally, the hope is that tougher opponents are the ones who a team only sees three times.
The Sixers' draw of Eastern Conference opponents they are only scheduled to face three times this season: Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards.
Frankly, this is not a good draw for the Sixers, but there is only so much they can do when in a division with the Knicks and Boston Celtics.
Now that the NBA Cup's integration into the regular season schedule has enabled the NBA to make two additions to a team's schedule should they not advance to the Knockout Rounds, one or two of these teams could end up being scheduled for another game against the Sixers when the time comes -- but it is impossible to predict up until a few weeks beforehand.
Celtics and Knicks games
The Sixers cannot get ahead of themselves -- especially because the middle of the Eastern Conference is as strong as it has been in quite some time -- but there are eight dates that everyone will have scheduled on their calendars: when are the Sixers facing the Celtics and the Knicks? Here's your answer:
• Nov. 16 vs. New York Knicks, 7:30PM (NBA Cup group play)
• Dec. 25 @ Boston Celtics, 5:00PM
• Jan. 15 vs. New York Knicks, 7:30PM
• Feb. 2 vs. Boston Celtics, 6:00PM
• Feb. 20 vs. Boston Celtics, 7:00PM
• Feb. 26 @ New York Knicks, 7:00PM
• March 6 @ Boston Celtics, 7:30PM
• April 1 @ New York Knicks, 7:30PM
Other noteworthy dates
Now we can finish with the fun stuff. Here are a handful of dates on the Sixers' 2024-25 calendar that will be significant in some capacity:
• The Sixers open their season at home against Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 23. It will be the first time the Sixers open their season in Philadelphia since 2020 (when fans were not yet allowed to enter the arena in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic).
• Tobias Harris will return to Philadelphia as a member of the Pistons on Oct. 30.
• Ben Simmons returning to Philadelphia always makes for entertaining television. Simmons' first game in the Wells Fargo Center in the upcoming season will take place when the Nets visit on Nov. 22 in NBA Cup group play.
• Paul George will face his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers, in their brand new Intuit Dome on Nov. 6. The Clippers will come to Philadelphia on Nov. 24, in the returns of former Sixers Nic Batum and Mo Bamba.
• Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama is set to play at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 23. Last time Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs came to Philadelphia, Joel Embiid welcomed him to the NBA with an epic 70-point masterpiece.
• The Sixers remain on the NBA's Christmas Day slate, heading to Boston for a matchup against the defending champion Celtics on Dec. 25.
• The Sixers will take on the NBA's all-time leading scorer LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers -- coached by former Sixers shooting guard JJ Redick -- in Los Angeles on Nov. 8 and in Philadelphia on Jan. 28.
• Embiid and Nikola Jokić could do battle twice this year, with the Sixers and Denver Nuggets set to face off on Jan. 21 in Denver and Jan. 31 in Philadelphia.
• Former Sixers De'Anthony Melton and Buddy Hield will return to Philadelphia with the Golden State Warriors on March 1.
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