In just a little over two weeks, the basketball drought will be over, and the NBA will be back in action. In the meantime, there is not much to discuss now that the hype of free agency has died down, and we are left begging for anything we can get our hands on.
A few days ago, the NBA announced a few marquee games, like Opening Night, Christmas Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Thunder will open up the regular season on Tuesday, October 16th in Oakland against the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors. The Warriors will receive their rings, and then Russell Westbrook and company will attempt to spoil the celebratory evening. The game will tip at 8:30 PM CT and will be televised on TNT.
NBA announces Thunder Opening Night and Christmas schedule.
🔗: https://t.co/bhrZ8iMw0N pic.twitter.com/uUmelbeeb2
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) August 8, 2018
Oklahoma City will also play on Christmas Day for the ninth consecutive year, but for the first time since Christmas 2013, the Thunder will play on the road against the Houston Rockets. That game will tip at 2 PM CT on ABC.
NBA on Christmas Day is a gift 🏀🎁
(First reported by @nytimes, confirmed by ESPN.) pic.twitter.com/74WMcMPYOd
— ESPN (@espn) August 8, 2018
Today, the NBA announced the full schedule for the upcoming season, so now is the time to start planning which games will be must-see, specifically those of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder will appear on national television at least 27 times, down from the 36 appearances a season ago. Oklahoma City will be featured on ABC six times, ESPN 10 times, and TNT 11 times. Regionally, however, the Thunder will be on Fox Sports Oklahoma for 70 of the 82 games.
All 👀s on OKC.
The Thunder is scheduled to make 27 national TV appearances this season.
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) August 10, 2018
After opening up the season against the Warriors in Oakland, the Thunder will travel Los Angeles to take on the Clippers on Friday, October 19th, before hosting the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, October 21st for the home opener.
Continuing the trend of playing at home on New Year’s Eve, Oklahoma City will host the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, December 31st.
Other notes about the schedule:
- The Thunder has 12 back-to-back pairs of games.
- December is the only month where the Thunder will play more games on the road than at home (five home, 10 away).
- The Thunder has four road trips of three games and one road trip of four games.
The entire schedule can be viewed here and downloaded to your calendar here.
Be sure to follow @TheThunderGuys on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.