The NBA office released this Friday the calendar of the preseason games that will be played from the 11th to the 19th of next December.
The teams will have 49 games to prepare for the reduced 2020-21 regular season which will start from December 22.
Each NBA team will play at least two preseason games, one at home and one away, and none will play more than four.
The preseason calendar will begin with a list of five games on December 11, among which the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers will play with his new signing of Spanish center Marc Gasol, against his neighboring rivals. of the Clippers, at the Staples Center.
Other games of interest will also be played, such as the Dallas Mavericks, with the Slovenian guard Luka doncic, against the Milwaukee Bucks, of the Greek power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, scheduled for December 12.
The star forward Kevin Durant could make his debut for the Brooklyn Nets on December 13, when his team faces the Washington Wizards at the Barcklays Center in New York.
Coach Doc Rivers He will lead his first game in charge of the Philadelphia Sixers as he hosts the Boston Celtics, another team he coached, on December 15.
The Toronto Raptors will open their provisional headquarters in Tampa, Florida, due to the coronavirus pandemic, when they host the Miami Heat on December 18.
The Nets travel to Boston to face the Celtics on December 18.
As part of Friday’s announcement, the NBA said it plans to release the first half of the league’s 72-game regular season schedule “in the next few days.”
The league had previously announced plans to present its schedule in blocks, with the first half before the season and the second half at a later date.
The NBA devised that plan to account for the possibility that games will inevitably need to be rescheduled due to complications from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic., and to allow more flexibility in doing so.
It is also expected that the league will have more defined the possibility that as the competition progresses there may be spectators in the fields.
For now, the Utah Jazz have already confirmed that they expect to have fans in their field at Vivint Smart Home Arena from the beginning of the regular season, albeit in a very small number, after receiving authorization from state and local health authorities.
The NBA is also waiting to see how the arrival of the covid-19 vaccine evolves.
