The NBA revealed today that it will announce its full regular season schedule – and national television schedule – for the 2019/20 season on Monday, August 12 at 3:00pm eastern time.
The dates for a handful of notable games have already been reported. We relayed the Christmas Day matchups last week, and Shams Charania of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) that the Raptors are expected to receive their championship rings on opening night (October 22) when they host the Pelicans and No. 1 pick Zion Williamson.
Charania also provides the dates for a handful of notable star/team reunions, including Anthony Davis and the Lakers visiting New Orleans and Kyrie Irving and the Nets traveling to Boston — both of those games will happen on November 27.
As we wait to find out what the rest of the 2019/20 schedule will look like, here are a few more items from around the basketball world:
- After a wildly entertaining 2019 free agent period, the odds are slim that we’ll see the same level of fireworks involving star players in 2020. In an Insider-only article for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks previews 2020’s free agent period, noting that outside of Anthony Davis and the top restricted free agents – all of whom are likely to stick with their current teams – next year’s best free agents will be vets like Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Andre Drummond.
- The NBA is ramping up its mental health program, as Sam Amick of The Athletic details. Sources tell Amick that the league issued a memo to all 30 teams on Wednesday to inform them of changes that must be made prior to the start of the 2019/20 season. Among those changes? All teams will be required to make at least one or two mental health professionals – and a licensed psychiatrist – available to players.
- In an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump (video link), draft expert Jonathan Givony previewed this year’s rookie class and identified some of the top incoming college freshman. Givony also notes that several of the projected top players in the 2020 draft class will be playing in Europe or – like R.J. Hampton and LaMelo Ball – in Australia.