NBA Schedule Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Dunn, Thompson, Expansion, Rest Problem

February 20th, 2023 at 4:22pm CST by Rory Maher

Kris Dunn has been competing in the G League this season in the hopes of receiving a promotion to the NBA. According to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), Dunn is receiving call-up interest and has signed with a new agent, Bernie Lee of Thread Sports Management.

Through 20 regular season games (29.7 MPG) with the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s affiliate, the former No. 5 overall pick is averaging 16.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.3 APG and 2.6 SPG on .522/.412/.755 shooting. A defensive stalwart, Dunn played 14 games for Portland last season.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Ausar Thompson of the Overtime Elite league has won the regular-season MVP award, an OTE representative tells ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (via Twitter). Thompson, who is projected to go No. 5 overall by ESPN in the upcoming draft, is averaging 15.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 5.4 APG, 2.3 SPG and 1.1 BPG, per Givony.
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame chairman and former NBA owner and executive Jerry Colangelo thinks the time is right for the league to add a couple more teams, writes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. “Personally, I do. OK, I do,” Colangelo told Yahoo Sports. “And I think you just hit on a couple of markets that make the most sense, (Seattle and Las Vegas).” Colangelo says there’s enough talent in the NBA for 30 more standard roster spots. “The stars continue to come,” Colangelo said, per Goodwill. “(Mikal) Bridges in Brooklyn, he gets 45 in his (third) game. That’s a new (star). I don’t worry about, ‘Well, how are you going to populate these new teams?’ There’s plenty of talent and more stars on the rise.” Colangelo went on to explain that he believes the game is in “great shape” due to the global interest in basketball. Commissioner Adam Silver has stated multiple times that expansion won’t be considered until the new media rights deal is negotiated following the ’24/25 season.
The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds queried 48 players, coaches, owners and executives to see if the NBA should change current the 82-game, 170-day schedule to address the problem of star players resting throughout the season. The results were completely mixed, with 40% saying they’d go along with what the league deems best, 35% saying they want no changes, and 25% wanting change. “I think if you want to get the best player availability, shortening the season may be in the best interest of everybody involved,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “But that’s also a lot of money being lost — TV games, money. Let’s not forget: This is a business.” Some believe expanding the 174-day schedule by a week or two and eliminating back-to-back games would help, but there’s there’s clearly no easy solution to the issue, as Reynolds notes.

Postponed Wizards-Pistons Game Forces Three Schedule Changes

February 6th, 2023 at 8:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA has announced three scheduling changes in the aftermath of last week’s postponed Wizards–Pistons game, according to a press release from the league.

Detroit was delayed in Dallas after losing to the Mavericks on Jan. 30. The Pistons were unable to return home until Thursday, one day after they were scheduled to play Washington.

That Wizards-Pistons game will be made up on March 7.

In order to ensure no team has to play three games in three nights, the Wizards’ March 6 home game against the Bucks has been moved to March 5. The Pistons’ home game against the Trail Blazers, which had been scheduled for March 7, will now be played on March 6.

NBA Postponing Wednesday’s Pistons/Wizards Game

February 1st, 2023 at 11:11am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA is postponing Wednesday night’s game in Detroit between the Pistons and Wizards, according to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).

The Pistons played the Mavericks in Dallas on Monday night and have been unable to travel back home since then due to a winter storm, as well as plane issues and other logistics, tweets James L. Edwards of The Athletic.

According to Edwards and Sankofa, the Pistons were still in Dallas as of 11:00 am Central time today, with tonight’s game just seven hours from tipping off, so a postponement became necessary.

A date for the rescheduled game remains up in the air. As Sankofa notes (via Twitter), the Pistons and Wizards are off Thursday, so it could theoretically be played one day later. However, both teams already have games scheduled for both Friday and Saturday, making a Thursday matchup (which would result in a back-to-back-to-back) far less practical.

The NBA was forced to postpone dozens of games during the last two seasons for COVID-related reasons and typically rescheduled them for weeks or months later. This is the first time in 2022/23 that the league has had to postpone a game.

Community Shootaround: 72-Game Schedule

January 21st, 2023 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Fans who attended Friday’s game in Cleveland to watch Stephen Curry‘s only visit of the season left the arena disappointed. Not only did the Cavaliers lose to the Warriors, but Curry sat out the game for load management along with Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins.

Golden State was coming off an intense Finals rematch with the Celtics the night before. Curry, who recently returned from a shoulder injury, logged 43 minutes in that overtime game. Thompson, Green and Wiggins each played at least 36 minutes, so it was in the team’s best interest not to push them on back-to-back nights.

“I feel terrible for fans who buy tickets expecting to see someone play and they don’t get to see that person play,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters, including Tom Withers of The Associated Press. “It’s a brutal part of the business. It’s why I’m going to continue to advocate for 72-game seasons.”

Kerr believes a reduced schedule would cut down on injuries and create a better overall quality of play. It would also result in fewer games where fans pay big money for tickets and wind up seeing the league’s top stars in street clothes.

“You take 10 games off the schedule, it always feels like with 10 games left in the year everybody’s sort of had it anyways,” Kerr said. “That creates enough rest where we don’t have to have some of these crazy situations. I think you’d see way fewer games missed from players.”

The pace of modern NBA games is placing a greater strain on players, points out Mike D. Sykes II of USA Today. In the 1990s, there were only 93.7 possessions in an average game, but that number has risen to 99.27 in the 2020s. The increase in three-point shooting also means there’s more of the court that defenses have to cover, so players are constantly in motion.

Fewer games would mean less wear and tear on players, which should result in a higher quality of competition every night and a better chance that teams will be at or near full strength for the playoffs.

Of course, there are revenue concerns that would come with a shorter season, which may prevent league officials from ever considering such a change. A proposed mid-season tournament could help mitigate that, but the league and the players union have yet to agree on the specifics of how that tournament would work.

A shortened season would also result in fewer games being available for television and streaming, which would be a major issue as the NBA negotiates its next broadcast deal. The current contract expires after the 2023/24 season, and the league is hoping to top $75 billion with its next TV package.

We want to get your opinion. Do you agree with Kerr that the league would be better off with a 72-game season? And do you believe it’s realistic? Head to the comments and give us your feedback.

NBA Announces Start, End Dates For 2023/24 Regular Season

November 30th, 2022 at 5:58pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA informed teams on Wednesday that the 2023/24 regular season will begin on October 24, 2023, and end April 14, 2024, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).

The ongoing ’22/23 regular season opened on October 18 and will conclude April 9, so next season’s start and end dates will be pushed back nearly a week.

According to Charania, the league also told teams that if and when a proposed in-season tournament is approved, the initial regular season schedule would have 80 games per team instead of the standard 82. In that scenario, the remaining games would be scheduled once eight teams advance to a single-elimination format.

As Charania reported in September, the in-season tournament would have cup games running through November, with eight teams advancing to knockout stages in December. All of the games would be part of the regular season schedule, and the finalists would each have one extra game.

In short, the remaining two games for the 22 teams that don’t advance to the single-elimination rounds would be finalized once the cup games conclude, possibly at the end of November.

The in-season tournament has yet to be finalized and still needs to be approved by the NBA and the NBPA before it can be implemented, but obviously the league is targeting next season for its initial run.

NBA Announces 2022 Preseason Schedule

August 25th, 2022 at 3:59pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA recently released its full 2022 preseason schedule, featuring 70 games from September 30 to October 14. In addition to all 30 NBA teams, a couple of international clubs will also participate in two games apiece: Maccabi Ra’anana of Israeli National League, and the Adelaide 36ers of the Australian National Basketball League.

The schedule tips off on September with the Warriors facing the Wizards in Japan at the Saitama Super Arena, while the Clippers face Maccabi at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

Several nationally televised games are on tap:

October 4: Detroit at New York, followed by New Orleans at Chicago (TNT)
October 6: Miami at Brooklyn, followed by the Timberwolves at the Lakers, with the latter taking place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN)
October 12: Brooklyn at Milwaukee, followed by the Timberwolves at the Lakers (ESPN)
October 14: Denver at Golden State (ESPN2)

With All-Stars like Zion Williamson and Ben Simmons set to return in 2022/23 after missing all of last season, the Pelicans and Nets will be interesting teams to watch. The same goes for the Clippers (Kawhi Leonard) and Nuggets (Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.), though Denver’s duo falls more in the “rising stars” category, as neither player has been named an All-Star yet.

Of course, it’s not a given that all of those players will participate in the preseason.

The Hawks and Timberwolves will also be intriguing to monitor, as they both made major trades in the offseason. All-Star guard Dejounte Murray is now on Atlanta, while three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert is on Minnesota.

The full schedule can be found right here for those curious about the preseason action.

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NBA Schedule

And-Ones: NBA Schedule, Scoring Record, Bronny James

August 17th, 2022 at 9:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

The process of creating the NBA schedule, which was released earlier today, begins in earnest in early July, Gene Li, the NBA’s Senior Director, National Broadcast Lead, tells Katie Heindl of Uproxx. The league starts collecting open arena dates from teams in the fall, but the process of putting games on the board doesn’t get underway until after the draft and the early days of free agency.

An emphasis in recent years has been reducing the amount of air travel that teams have to endure. In total, there are 50,000 fewer travel miles in this year’s schedule and there are 88 instances with no travel, where road teams either play the same opponent twice in a row or they stay in the same city and face the Knicks and Nets or Lakers and Clippers.

“In the past we actually had reservations about doing those,” Li said. “We weren’t sure how the teams would feel, both competitively and having the same opponent visit your market for two nights, but with these past two seasons and the small sample size, we’ve seen that there really isn’t a downside from a competitive standpoint. So we’ll keep monitoring that for the seasons to come, but we’re glad it’s working out, that the teams like it and that it’s had that positive impact on travel.”

There’s more news from around the basketball world:

The ESPN staff picked out highlights from this season’s schedule, including Ben Simmons‘ return to Philadelphia on November 22 and Rudy Gobert‘s return to Utah on December 9. Zach Harper of The Athletic also includes those matchups on his list of the most anticipated games of 2022/23.
One of the NBA’s most hallowed records is likely to fall this season as LeBron James is on pace to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time scoring leader. An ESPN story examines the timeline for James, who is 1,325 points behind and will need 49 games if he maintains his career scoring average of 27.1 PPG. L.A.’s 49th game is January 25 against the Spurs, but ESPN notes that injuries prevented James from reaching the 49-game mark until the Lakers’ 67th contest of last season. That will take place March 10 against the Raptors.
James took to social media to dispute a report that Oregon has “emerged as the front-runner to land a commitment” from his son, Bronny James, writes Geoffrey C. Arnold of The Oregonian. Bronny will be a senior at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, California, and LeBron has expressed a desire to play on the same team with him in the NBA. “He hasn’t taken 1 visit yet and has only had a few calls with coaches and universities,” James tweeted. “When Bronny makes his choice you’ll hear it from him.”

2022/23 NBA Schedules By Team

August 17th, 2022 at 3:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially unveiled its full regular season schedule for 2022/23.

The season will begin on Tuesday, October 18 and wrap up Sunday, April 9. The play-in tournament will take place from April 11-14, with the playoffs beginning on April 15.

The league’s announcement highlighted the fact that the estimated average miles traveled per team in 2022/23 has been reduced to 41,000, which is a new record low since the NBA has had 30 teams and played an 82-game season.

The league also confirmed several previously reported marquee matchups, including its five-game Christmas Day slate, an opening night doubleheader of Sixers at Celtics and Lakers at Warriors, and games taking place in Mexico City and Paris.

Listed below are links to the full 2022/23 season schedules for each NBA team, organized by conference and division. The team-by-team schedules for ’22/23 can also be viewed in a single document right here, while the full schedule by date can be viewed here.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Northwest Division

Pacific Division

Southwest Division

And-Ones: Election Day, Free Agent History, Kurucs, Hall Of Fame

August 16th, 2022 at 10:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

In an effort to encourage fans, players, staff members and arena workers to vote in the midterm elections, the NBA will not play any games on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, the league’s communications department tweets. The scheduling decision came out of the league’s focus on promoting nonpartisan civic engagement. Some of the league’s practice facilities and arenas have been used as polling places.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Ben Wallace, Shawn Marion and Kevin Durant. Those are some of the players chosen by HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina as the best free agent signings in the history of the Pistons, Mavericks and Warriors, respectively. Urbina makes his top free agent selections for every team in the league.
Former NBA forward Rodions Kurucs is close to signing with Spanish team Real Betis Baloncesto, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports. Kurucs has appeared in 131 NBA games, including a total of 21 with Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Houston during the 2020/21 campaign. He played with KK Partizan in Serbia last season. Kurucs saw action in four Summer League contests with the Raptors last month.
Manu Ginobili will be presented by longtime Spurs teammate and Hall of Fame inductee Tim Duncan during this year’s enshrinement ceremony on September 10, according to Hoophall.com. Isiah Thomas will be among five Hall of Famers to present Tim Hardaway.

NBA To Release Full 2022/23 Schedule On Wednesday

August 16th, 2022 at 9:04am CST by Luke Adams

9:04am: The NBA’s schedule announcement is set for 3:00 pm Eastern time (2:00 pm CT) on Wednesday, the league has confirmed (via Twitter).

7:50am: The NBA will announce its full schedule for the 2022/23 regular season on Wednesday, league sources tell veteran reporter Marc Stein (Twitter link).

A handful of key matchups on the coming season’s schedule have been reported in recent days, including all five Christmas Day games and a Warriors/Lakers season opener.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Celtics and Sixers will also play in Boston on opening night, which will fall on Tuesday, October 18.

Other newly reported matchups from the NBA’s opening week include the Suns hosting the Mavericks on October 19 after being blown out in Phoenix in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals by that same Dallas team (Twitter link via Charania); and the new-look Timberwolves hosting Rudy Gobert‘s old team, the Jazz, on October 21 (Twitter link via Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports). The Wolves will visit Utah for the first time on December 9, Haynes reports.

The fact that the season will officially begin on October 18 means that Monday, October 17 will be a key deadline to watch. That will be the last day for teams to set their 15-man rosters for the regular season, to convert Exhibit 10 contracts into two-way deals, to complete sign-and-trades, and to sign players to rookie scale extensions.