After announcing Christmas Day and opening week games Wednesday, the NBA went ahead and revealed the rest of the 2021-22 regular season schedule on Friday. The 21-22 season will begin on October 19th with the Brooklyn Nets taking on the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors playing the Los Angeles Lakers in the night cap.
Outside of the primetime teams who will get most of the national TV shine, there are some teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers that will only get four nationally televised games.
We are going to take a deep look at the schedule and pick out a few games which have intriguing matchups and are League Pass-worthy.
Bulls vs. Pistons (Oct. 20)
To open up the 2021-22 regular season, the revamped Chicago Bulls will travel to the Motor City to take on No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons at 7:00 p.m. ET on NBA League Pass.
There is a lot of optimism surrounding the Bulls, who acquired both Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan through sign-and-trade deals in free agency to pair with the duo of Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls have not made the postseason since the 2016-17 season, when they lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Meanwhile, the Pistons will be looking to continue their rebuild with Cunningham in the fold. Detroit will try to improve on their 20-52 record last season.
Hawks vs. Suns (Nov. 6)
A couple top-5 picks from the famed 2018 NBA Draft class will meet up at 10 p.m. ET as the Atlanta Hawks will take on the Phoenix Suns. The Hawks were one of the best stories in the league last season after they made an exciting run in the NBA playoffs. Star point guard Trae Young solidified himself as one of the league’s next upcoming superstars and will be going up against a future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul.
De’Andre Ayton, who was the first overall pick, had an incredible playoff run last season and was one of the main reasons why the Suns made it to the NBA Finals. This should be a fun game featuring two of the best young teams in the Association.
Rockets vs. Pistons (Dec. 18)
While everybody will be watching college football on Saturday, the Rockets will be taking on the Pistons at noon on NBA League Pass. No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green will be making his Motown debut after his unflattering comments about Detroit and comparing it to the NBA G-League bubble.
It will also be the rematch between Green and No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham that we saw take place in the 2021 MGM Resorts Las Vegas Summer League. This matchup may not be appealing to casual basketball fan, but for a diehard NBA fan there are a few young guys worth keeping an eye on.