🏀 The season in brief

What the calendar is built around

The league released 1,200 of the 1,230 games on August 13. It opens Tuesday, October 20 with three games — Boston at Detroit in the afternoon, Philadelphia at New York, and Oklahoma City at San Antonio — and closes Sunday, April 11 with all fifteen games on one night. The Cup knockouts and a handful of late dates are added once the groups settle.

Christmas is five games on ABC and ESPN. The Cup groups play on Fridays through November. Four games leave the country or the home market: Mexico City in November, Paris and Manchester in January, and two in Austin. 237 games carry a national window — NBC and Peacock most, then Prime and ESPN.

For fantasy, the only number that matters is games per week: the Timberwolves, Pelicans and Suns each get thirteen four-game weeks, and they are also the clubs with the most two-game weeks. The grid is one tab over.