Four months have since the Golden State Warriors won the 2022 NBA championship. Since then, we’ve seen a championship parade, a new generation of players entering the league in the draft, some key free agency signings, plenty of trade rumors, three All-Stars to new teams, and young talent showing off their summers League games, some off-field drama, training camp and preseason action.
It’s time to get back on the game court for another entire season. It starts on Tuesday, October 18, at TNT’s opening night duo.
Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics
(7:30 p.m. ET, TNT)
In Game 1 of the 2022-23 regular season, defending champion Joel Embiid led the Philadelphia 76ers against the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics.
Boston finished 18th in its first attempt last June but trailed the Warriors by two games. The Boston Celtics are looking to return to the NBA Finals with a new coach (Joe Mazuela) and a new guard in the rotation (Malcolm Brogdon).
Tuesday will mark the coaching debut of Mazuela, the 34-year-old named interim coach after coach Ime Udoka’s suspension for a season on September 22.
The game will also mark the Celtics’ first-ever tribute to the late Bill Russell, the legendary center’s No. 6 who has the TD Garden’s famous parquet floor. For the upcoming season, every player in the NBA will wear a black No. 6 patch on their jerseys to honor Russell and celebrate his impact on and off the court.
Russell is also the first player to retire his jersey number in the NBA, as his No. 6 will no longer issue to any player by any NBA team. However, players currently wearing No. 6 have been eliminated and will be the last players to wear No. 6 in NBA games.
At the top of this list is LeBron James, who will appear in Game 2 of the opening night doubles. James joins 14 other players currently ranked sixth on the NBA roster. However, the Roster for the 2022-2023 season will be finalized on October 17, opening night, so the Roster may get smaller before opening night.
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors
(10 p.m. ET, TNT)
It’s a big night in San Francisco. The 2021-2022 NBA champion Golden State Warriors celebrate their fourth championship in eight seasons before kicking off a tournament run with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers Battle.
It will be the first time the Warriors have received their championship rings and unveiled the new championship banner at the Chase Center, which opened in September 2019. At Oracle Arena in Oakland, the former home of the Golden State Warriors, the First three titles played by The Warriors.
The Warriors will send their entire team to the festivities as Draymond Green’s time away from the team is over after an altercation with teammate Jordan Poole during preseason practice. He is Fine by the team for his actions but will not suspend.
The four-time champion Warriors quartet Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and Green will face a familiar foe, James, in his final game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Competitions (2014-18) before joining the Lakers in the 2018-19 season.
The game marked the beginning of LeBron’s 20th NBA season, a feat that only eight players in league history have achieved: Vince Carter (22 seasons); Kevin Willis, Robert Parish, Kevin Garnett, and Dirk Nowitzki (21 seasons), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Jamal Crawford (20 seasons).
It also marks the countdown to LeBron pursuing Kareem’s record as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. He has surpassed Kareem with 1,326 points to become the game’s all-time top scorer this season.
Based on his average of 27.1 points, it would take LeBron 49 games to break the record. However, LeBron is coming off a season where he’s averaging 30.3 points per game, the second-highest of his career, so he may be quicker than expected.