The NBA released its full 2024-25 regular-season schedule on Thursday. We’ve covered the schedule from a lot of different angles, including 10 must-see games, ranking the Christmas Day games, and a rundown of who has the most nationally televised games.
Here’s one more: Homecoming games. We’re not going to call these revenge games, although that would aptly characterize some of these matchups (Klay Thompson returning to play the Warriors and Paul George getting his first shot at the Clippers after they refused to pay him max money), because there weren’t a ton of bad-blood moves this summer.
Still, even in amicable splits, athletes will find any source of juice they can, and going back to the old stomping grounds to play a former team never fails to rev the engine. It was not a coincidence that Bradley Beal dropped a season-high 43 points on the Wizards last year.
So, call these homecoming games or revenge games or whatever you’d like, but circle them on your calendar if you’re an NBA nut. They’re not all “big” games, but they’ll feel plenty big to those involved.
Oct. 23: Doc returns to Philly
This is a coach revenge game, as Doc Rivers was fired two days after the 76ers lost in the 2023 Eastern Conference semifinals to the Boston Celtics, a series they once led 3-2. Rivers’ teams are no strangers to blowing playoff leads, and this was the third straight season he had failed to get the Sixers past the second round. So they brought in Nick Nurse … and failed to get out of the first round. Rivers caught a lot of flak for Philadelphia’s shortcomings, and regardless of whether he would ever acknowledge it, he would love to go into Philadelphia on opening night and beat the Sixers.
Oct. 25: Obi Toppin back at MSG
Toppin has been back to play the Knicks a bunch of time since theyc traded him to Indiana, including in last year’s New York-Indiana conference seminfinals in which Toppin, who was just rewarded with a $60M deal, played well. Still, I don’t think a guy like Toppin, who was the No. 8 overall pick and was never really…
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