On Thursday, the NBA announced its full schedule for its 2024-25 season, including what looks to be quite the stretch from Jan. 21-25.
The full slate for NBA Rivals Week has been announced by the NBA via a new official schedule.
Across 10 national TV games and TNT, NBA TV, ESPN and ABC, the league will explore some of its signature matchups, old and new.
On Jan. 21, the action tips off with a pair of TNT contests. First, in a Great Apple battle, the lowly Brooklyn Nets will face off against the New York Knicks. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET.
To shore up their wing depth, the Knicks acquired All-Defensive small forward Mikal Bridges, backup small forward Keita Bates-Diop, and a 2026 second round draft pick from the Nets in exchange for power forward Bojan Bogdanovic, backup guard Shake Milton (added through a three-year, $9 million sign-and-trade deal), big man Mamadi Diakite, five future first round draft picks, a first round pick swap in 2028, and a 2025 second round pick.
Bridges joins his former Villanova comrades Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart on a 50-win Knicks club that finished as the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed last year. The Nets, sans Bridges, seem doomed to be one of the worst clubs in the East.
Read More: Knicks News: New York Builds Out Mikal Bridges Deal with Additional Sign-And-Trade
Nine-time All-Star combo forward Paul George and his new club, the Philadelphia 76ers, will square off against Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets in the second game of that doubleheader, on TNT, at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET on Jan. 21. The matchup is primed to be a big one, as it features the league’s two most recent MVPs, centers Jokic and Joel Embiid. There is no love lost between the two men.
On Jan. 22, the Dallas Mavericks will host the Minnesota Timberwolves at 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET, a 2024 Western Conference Finals rematch and the first part of an ESPN doubleheader. That game will be followed up by a matchup between a pair of Northern California rivals, the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET. Golden State vanquished Sacramento in a 2023 seven-game first round contest, but the Kings made quick work of the Warriors in a 2024 play-in tournament bout.
Next, on Jan. 23, longtime East nemeses the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks will play each other in Milwaukee, at 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET, via TNT. That game will be succeeded by a contest between the league’s two winningest squads, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET. Boston and L.A. have faced off in 12 NBA Finals.
The lone Rivals Week game on Jan. 24 will be a meeting led by the top two draft picks in 2019, Zion Williamson’s New Orleans Pelicans and Ja Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies, during a 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET NBA TV encounter.
Finally, the action will conclude on Jan. 25. In a rematch for one of the more memorable series in recent league history, the 2024 Western Conference Semifinals, the Timberwolves will host the Denver Nuggets at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET on ABC. Following that, a 2024 NBA Finals rematch featuring the Celtics and Mavericks will start 2:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. ET. Finally, the Lakers will do battle against L.A. All-Star LeBron James‘ longtime postseason foe, the Golden State Warriors.
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