The NBA schedule is being finalized, with an expected release next week, and we are starting to learn a few of the marquee games that will be sprinkled throughout the calendar.
On Friday, Marc Stein reported the Lakers will visit Dallas on Christmas Day in the current plan, noting things can change but usually Christmas games are set early and don’t move. Then, on Saturday, we learned the Lakers will also be part of the opening night festivities, traveling north to San Francisco for the Warriors ring night celebration on October 18, per Shams Charania.
Scheduled for the NBA’s 2022-23 opening night and ring ceremony on TNT: Lakers at Warriors, Oct. 18, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 13, 2022
One would expect that to be a 10:00 or 10:30 p.m. ET tip on TNT, with an Eastern Conference tilt coming beforehand — with the Celtics as the most obvious choice to host an opening night game in the East, potentially against the Bucks or Heat if they want to go for a playoff rematch on the first night. We’ll find out the full schedule soon enough, but Lakers and Warriors fans can now mark their calendars for the opener (although Golden State was always going to have that first game for ring night). It’ll be a tone-setter in the West, as the Warriors will look to pick up where they left off, while the Lakers seek to prove last year’s disaster of a season wasn’t a harbinger of things to come in L.A.