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LeBron James, Steph Curry set to star on TV as NBA unveils 2024-25 schedule

James’s Lakers and Curry’s Warriors will play the most nationally televised games as part of a slate that also highlights the Knicks and defending champion Celtics.

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LeBron James and Stephen Curry, who teamed up to win Olympic gold in Paris, will face off with their NBA squads on Christmas. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)
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Fresh off leading Team USA to an Olympic gold medal, LeBron James and Stephen Curry will be fixtures in nationally televised NBA games this season.

The league on Thursday unveiled its 2024-25 schedule, one that has James’s Los Angeles Lakers resuming their annual role as a showcase franchise with 39 games to be televised on ABC, ESPN, NBA TV or TNT, the most of any squad. Curry’s Golden State Warriors — who did not advance out of last season’s play-in tournament, while the Lakers did but immediately fell in five games to the Denver Nuggets — are second with 36 nationally televised games.

The defending champion Boston Celtics are next with 34, the same number handed to a New York Knicks team that could be the biggest threat in the East to Jayson Tatum and Co.

Those two squads will square off in the opening game of the season Oct. 22. Before the regular season ends April 13, the NBA has plenty of high-profile matchups in store for marquee dates such as Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Rivals Week.

Still to be determined are two games for each team this season that will depend on the results of the NBA Cup. Often referred to as the in-season tournament, this year’s slate of group-play games runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 3, with the knockout rounds unfolding from Dec. 10 to 17. “Cup Nights” will be held Tuesdays and Fridays. The first of them will feature Klay Thompson, a longtime Warriors star who joined the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks in the offseason, making his first visit as a visitor to Golden State’s arena.

Intuit Dome, the NBA’s newest arena and soon-to-be home of the Los Angeles Clippers, will have its regular season unveiling on Oct. 23 when the Clippers host another Olympic star, Kevin Durant, and his Phoenix Suns. Earlier that evening, former Clippers star Paul George will make his regular season debut with the Philadelphia 76ers when they host the Milwaukee Bucks.

Those two games will be on ESPN as part of 11 nationally televised NBA games over the first five days of the season. TNT, which will be in its final go-round as one of the league’s broadcast partners, has the season-opening doubleheader, with the Lakers taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves after the Celtics-Knicks game.

Victor Wembanyama, the reigning rookie of the year and emerging superstar, will continue to have his profile elevated with 21 nationally televised games for his San Antonio Spurs. That includes a slot on Christmas Day, with those five matchups as follows:

  • Spurs at Knicks, noon (ESPN)
  • Timberwolves at Mavericks, 2:30 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)
  • 76ers at Celtics, 5 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)
  • Lakers at Warriors, 8 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)
  • Nuggets at Suns, 10:30 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)

Here are the Martin Luther King Jr. Day games:

  • Mavericks at Charlotte Hornets, noon (NBA TV)
  • Timberwolves at Memphis Grizzlies, 2:30 p.m. (TNT)
  • Celtics at Warriors, 5 p.m. (TNT)

Once again, the NBA will not stage any games on Election Day. In a news release Thursday, the league said it is leaving Nov. 5 open to “continue to encourage fans and the broader NBA community to make a plan to vote and participate in the civic process.”

As things stand, the teams with the fewest nationally televised games (four) are the Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors, followed by five for the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. Four of those games for the Wizards are set to air on NBA TV, with the other on TNT when Washington plays the Suns and former Wizard Bradley Beal on Jan. 16.

Washington will also be featured in the NBA’s one regular season game set to take place in Mexico City, where it will play the Miami Heat on Nov. 2. Two other regular season games will occur outside of the United States and Canada. Both will be staged in Paris and will feature Wembanyama, a native of France, and his Spurs facing the Indiana Pacers, first on Jan. 23 (NBA TV) and Jan. 25 (ESPN).

Rivals Week, which the NBA has put together for the third straight year, will unfold from Jan. 21 to 25. Among the games scheduled for that span are Celtics-Mavericks in a Finals rematch, plus Celtics-Lakers and Lakers-Warriors.