The NBA released its 2022-23 schedule on Wednesday, and the Boston Celtics will open their season at home on Oct. 18 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Here are some of the highlights for Boston’s schedule:
• The Celtics will be featured in 37 national TV games, whether that’s on ABC, ESPN, TNT or NBATV.
• The Celtics will honor Bill Russell twice during the regular season after the Hall of Fame player and coach died July 31. The first will be for the opener against the 76ers, where they will unveil a Russell-inspired City Edition uniform. They’ll wear those uniforms 12 times – six at home and six on the road. The second Russell tribute night will be on his birthday, Feb. 12, against the Grizzlies.
• The Celtics have a tough December schedule that features a six-game road swing, including a Dec. 10 Finals rematch against the Warriors in San Francisco.
That trip includes four games out west, where the Celtics also face the Clippers, Lakers and Suns. They’ll also face the Heat and Bucks in December, though there are other games against lesser opponents.
• Boston will be on the road for 10 games in January compared to five at home. The Warriors will visit Boston on Jan. 19 as the second part of the Finals rematch. The Lakers will be at TD Garden on Jan. 28.
• The Celtics have their second six-game trip of the season in March, with 5 of 6 games against Western Conference foes. The matchups aren’t expected to be as difficult compared to the trip in December, but the Celtics will have another nine total road games.
• Boston closes the regular season against the Atlanta Hawks on April 9. The playoffs start April 15.
THE NBA SCHEDULE has 1,230 games taking place in four countries, with Mexico and France playing host to regular-season contests along with the U.S. and Canada.
Teams will travel a bit less, about 5% fewer miles in the air on average over last season.
The NBA made that happen by adding to the instances of teams having no travel between road games, something that’ll happen 88 times this season – up 66% from last season. There are 55 instances of teams playing consecutive road games against the same opponent, and 33 instances of teams playing two games in a row against the two teams from Los Angeles or New York.
Add it all up, and NBA teams will combine to fly about 50,000 fewer miles this season.
Minimizing the instances of having games on back-to-back days is still a point of emphasis for the NBA, and the average number of them dipped another 1.5% this season – the average going from 13.5 per team last season to 13.3 per team this season.
No team has fewer than 12 back-to-backs this season, no team has more than 15.
LAKERS: LeBron James has agreed to a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension through the 2024-25 season, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because James and the Lakers haven’t yet announced the league-maximum deal, which includes a player option that would keep the second-leading scorer in NBA history with the Lakers past his 40th birthday in December 2024.
James is headed into the final year of his most recent contract with the Lakers, who signed the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player and four-time league champion in July 2018. The new deal means the 18-time All-Star will make $46.7 million this season.
ATTENDANCE RECORD: The San Antonio Spurs’ magic number on Jan. 13 – 62,047.
If the Spurs’ game against Golden State that night draws at least that many fans, it’ll set an NBA regular-season record. The Spurs will play that game in San Antonio’s Alamodome, not their typical arena, and it’ll be set up to accommodate at least 65,000 fans.
The biggest crowd at an NBA regular-season game is 62,046, who gathered to watch Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls meet the Atlanta Hawks at the Georgia Dome on March 27, 1998.
The biggest crowd in league history was 108,713, that group gathering for the 2010 All-Star Game at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in North Texas.
The Alamodome record for an NBA game is 39,554 on June 18, 1999, when New York visited San Antonio for Game 2 of that year’s NBA Finals.
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