2024-25 NBA Schedule: Key dates for fantasy basketball, games to watch

Dan Titus

The 2024-25 NBA season begins on Tuesday, October 22, and on August 15, basketball heads were treated to an entertaining schedule release by several teams across the Association. Shoutout to the Minnesota Timberwolves' social team, who dropped the best schedule reveal video. Today, I'll detail how the schedule impacts fantasy basketball and some marquee games to watch throughout the regular season.

📆 Key Yahoo fantasy basketball dates to know

  • Mock Drafts Start: Thursday, August 22 (next Thursday!!)

  • Live Drafts Start: Thursday, August 22

  • Live Drafts End: Sunday, March 9

  • Game Start Date: Tuesday, October 22

  • Game End Date: Sunday, April 13

  • Default Trade Deadline: Thursday, March 6

  • Default Playoffs Start: Monday, March 17 (Week 20)

  • Default Playoffs End: Sunday, April 6 (Week 22)

Go here for more Yahoo Fantasy schedule information

📅 Key NBA dates to know

  • League Start: Tuesday, October 22

  • Emirates NBA Cup: November 12 - December 17

  • NBA All-Star Weekend: February 14-16 (San Francisco, CA)

  • League End: April 13

  • Play-In Tournament: April 15-18

  • Playoffs Start: April 19

  • NBA Finals Start: June 5

Go here for more NBA scheduling information

🗓️ NBA Schedule Takeaways

  • I recommend starting the fantasy playoffs as early as Week 18 (March 3) and no later than Week 20 (March 17). Talk to your commish, because the last thing you want to do is play through the end of the season when tanking teams throw in the towel or playoff contenders rest their main guys ahead of the postseason.

  • While it's conceivable that we'll continue to see less load management with so many contract incentives tied to participation, it's concerning that the average number of back-to-back games per team increased to 14.9. However, removing all four games in five-night scenarios is significant when factoring in travel and rest for players. Shoutout to Tim Reynolds for taking the time to do this analysis.

  • 11 teams play the most back-to-back games (16): Hawks, Cavaliers, Nuggets, Rockets, Clippers, Bucks, Pelicans, Thunder, Suns, Kings and Wizards. (Kawhi Leonard's knees are not thrilled by this news.)

  • Six teams play the fewest back-to-backs (13): Celtics, Bulls, Mavericks, Lakers, Magic, Trail Blazers. What can I say, the league loves LeBron 🙃

  • Easiest strength of schedule: (1) Denver Nuggets, (2) Indiana Pacers, (3) Orlando Magic, (4) Boston Celtics and (5) New York Knicks

  • Hardest strength of schedule: (30) Portland Trail Blazers, (29) Los Angeles Clippers, (28) Houston Rockets, (27) Phoenix Suns and (26) Brooklyn Nets

  • The Phoenix Suns have the largest rest disparity in the NBA at -4 games (six rest advantage games compared to 10 rest disadvantage games). This is something to monitor when factoring in Bradley Beal's health concerns and Kevin Durant's age.

  • The Warriors and Bulls have a league-best +4 in rest advantage games (compared to rest disadvantage games)

🤔 Opening Night: Tuesday, October 22

It's only fitting that the reigning champs play on opening night and they'll face one of their most challenging opponents in the Eastern Conference, the re-tooled New York Knicks. It'll be interesting to see how the Boston Celtics fare without Kristaps Porzingis early in the season. On the flip side, seeing how Julius Randle meshes with the Knicks' loaded starting unit will also impact the fantasy values of fellow starters Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby — how much remains to be seen.

I'm not enthusiastic about the Lakers drawing an opening-night game, but I get it. I just ask that we get the father-son moment out of the way as early as possible. We don't need or want that storyline dragging out. It's wishful thinking, but at least we'll also get to watch the ascending Timberwolves with Anthony Edwards and Co.

🏀 Five games I’m hyped for early in the season

Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, the stars of the 2023-24 rookie class, facing off the second week of the season? Must-see TV.

Jayson Tatum might go for 50+ after Steve Kerr put him on ice far too much in the Paris Olympics.

A heated rivalry that got turned up a notch after the Knicks ousted the Sixers in the first round of the playoffs last season. Add Philly native Mikal Bridges to the fold in a return to the Wells Fargo Center, plus Paul George — it will be war.

It's been a minute since we've seen Ja Morant and Zion Williamson go at it.

The Kings brought in DeMar DeRozan to add more firepower to their offense, and the Rockets are trending up as one of the best young teams in the league. I bet that'll be a track meet.

🏆 Emirates NBA Cup

The Emirates NBA Cup, formerly the in-season tournament, begins on November 12 and will end with the championship game on December 17.

Impact on fantasy basketball: The Week 7 scoring period will run from December 2 to December 15 (two weeks). The NBA will hold the championship game on December 17, but it won't factor into the Week 8 fantasy scoring period. After the championship game concludes, the Week 8 scoring period will run from Thursday, December 19 through Sunday, December 22.

More Emirates NBA Cup information

🎄The Christmas Day lineup!

Fantasy football will be winding down at this point, and the NBA did a great job of attracting some heavy hitters for the holidays to compete with the NFL.

  • San Antonio Spurs @ New York Knicks

    • Wemby headed to MSG for the Xmas opener? LFG.

  • Minnesota Timberwolves @ Dallas Mavericks

    • A rematch of the Western Conference finals and two of the future faces of the league going toe-to-toe in Luka Dončić and Anthony Edwards.

  • Philadelphia 76ers @ Boston Celtics

    • Nothing wrong with another classic divisional clash between these storied franchises.

  • Los Angeles Lakers @ Golden State Warriors

    • The season's first matchup between Steph Curry, LeBron James and Anthony Davis since capturing gold at the Paris Olympics. Can't wait despite these two teams aging out as playoff contenders.

  • Denver Nuggets @ Phoenix Suns

    • It is a fun Christmas nightcap that should feature plenty of star power.

📺 Top 10 nationally televised games by team (ESPN, ABC and TNT)

  • Lakers: 29

  • Celtics: 26

  • Warriors: 24

  • Knicks: 24

  • Mavericks: 23

  • Nuggets: 22

  • 76ers: 21

  • Suns: 19

  • Bucks: 18

  • Timberwolves: 18

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