The 23 most compelling games on the 2024 NBA schedule, including a Celtics-Mavericks Finals rematch (2024)

A perfect “ring night” matchup. The reigning NBA champions will get to square off against the new-look, heavyweight New York Knicks — with Mikal Bridges in tow — to set the tone for their hopeful repeat campaign. It might even be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals. Plus, you’ve got all the tinges of the heated Boston-New York professional sports rivalry. Whoever set this up for NBA opening night was absolutely cooking.

We should consider ourselves so lucky to watch Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid — winners of three of the last six MVPs — square off any time we can. The NBA is dishing up a matchup between these two right away for both the Bucks and 76ers’ season-opener. Another schedule masterstroke.

A rematch of perhaps the best top-to-bottom playoff series from this past spring, the NBA is pitting three-time MVP Nikola Jokic against rising superstar Anthony Edwards rather quickly. We’ll see these two Western powers/rivals in Minnesota on one of the first Fridays of the entire season. Honestly, given the heat of their most recent postseason battle, I’m shocked it isn’t coming sooner. Still, I can’t wait.

A year after being ravaged by injuries, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ja Morant’s Grizzlies enjoyed some measure of a resurgence this season. NBA schedule makers appear to agree because they’re having Morant and LeBron James’ Lakers battle in a solid mid-November matchup. This game might end up becoming a good litmus test for where the Grizzlies stand.

Repeat after me: every time that Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, two generationally talented big men, meet up over the rest of their careers, it will be appointment viewing. Full stop. Let’s fast forward to their second epic duel of this season, in the middle of the in-season tournament, right away.

Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic are the best of friends. They’re also, for my money, the two best players in NBA basketball right now. I can’t wait to watch them trade ridiculous baskets in the post (Jokic) and from the outside (Doncic) again closer to Thanksgiving. They are going to put on a show … as they always do.

The Heat feel like they’ve fallen off a tad after making two NBA Finals in four years, but I’ll write them off only when Erik Spoelstra stops coaching them. (Which isn’t going to happen for a long time.) That makes it well worth watching how Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo try to slow down LeBron James and Anthony Davis in a great nightcap in early December.

A rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals is, to me, the headline matchup of this year’s Christmas Day slate. Luka Doncic’s Mavericks, of course, humbled Anthony Edwards’ Timberwolves in a quick five games. Call it a hunch, but Edwards will be hell-bent on a mission to wipe the bad taste out of his mouth for that in front of the entire country here.

Nuggets-Suns is always a fun Western Conference duel independent of any outside context. That’s just the kind of gravity that Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Jamal Murray, and Devin Booker all hold together. This holiday meeting might have a little more heft after Durant’s internet antagonization of Denver fans, making it an excellent way to finish Christmas off.

Make no mistake. The Timberwolves will be an understandable chic pick to win this year’s NBA title. And expect them to use their visit to Boston in early January as a measuring stick to show where they stand. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown better watch out. This tough-nosed Minnesota team is coming.

The two most recent NBA champions. The most-winning Western Conference team (the Nuggets) against the most-winning Eastern Conference team (the Celtics) over the last half-decade. A matchup I think everyone would love in the Finals in June. I’m so mad we can’t fast-forward to this one.

Here’s the first chance at getting to watch Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid — two generational centers — battle this coming season. It’s a matchup that the NBA should really do more work to promote because fireworks are inevitable between the two all-time great big men in the paint.

Kevin Durant. Steph Curry. Devin Booker. Draymond Green. Not much defense being played. What more could you want?

If I’m being completely candid, I’m probably tuning in every time that LeBron James and Steph Curry play against each other for the rest of their legendary careers. With that said, I like this specific matchup because it comes near the All-Star break, in the middle of a playoff push. And when these two icons see each other on the other end of the court with something to play for, they’re both going to do something special.

The second of two matchups between the teams in last year’s NBA Finals caps a fantastic TNT doubleheader. The Mavericks faded so hard against the Celtics after looking formidable enough to win it all. They will definitely want to wipe that bad taste out of their mouth here.

Want to see if the NBA’s Next Big Thing can topple an established juggernaut? You’ll get your chance when Victor Wembanyama makes his likely only visit to Boston this season. This time, he’ll have guys like Chris Paul to help.

In one of the only (likely) games between the 76ers and Warriors this season, we’ll get to see Steph Curry try and take down Joel Embiid’s Avengers-like team with Paul George aboard. Once again, do not necessarily expect much defense (which is good).

Tyrese Haliburton’s Pacers humiliated the Bucks in last year’s in-season tournament. Then, they turned around and eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs. A healthy Bucks team that has bolstered its point-of-attack defense will assuredly be looking for revenge. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Haliburton in a playoff push? Yes, please!

I will cherish practically every major matchup LeBron James has against active younger superstars for the foreseeable future. So, please, let’s see him and Giannis Antetokounmpo trading dunks for four quarters here.

To be honest, I almost tire of watching the two most successful Eastern teams in recent memory sometimes. Both the Celtics and Heat play such a grimy brand of basketball every time they see each other that it’s hard to get excited. But there’s no denying there’s a lot of competitive fire here, a real rivalry. We need more of that in the NBA. It’s a no-brainer putting this in mid-March with the playoffs on the horizon.

I could have picked any of the Nuggets-Lakers matchups this year because it’s always great to see the cerebral Nikola Jokic against the cerebral LeBron James try and outdo each other. But I’ll pick this one on what I think finishes the best possible national TV doubleheader of the entire regular season. At the time of this writing, the Nuggets have won 12 of their last 13 games against the Lakers. Don’t think that the Lakers don’t want to desperately change that.

A possible Finals preview, I will watch Luka Doncic at Madison Square Garden without hesitation.

On the one hand, I think the Lakers’ size is tailor-made to bully the Pacers. On the other, I almost think the Pacers’ speed and frenetic pace are too much to handle for L.A. Something’s gotta give, and I can’t wait to find out what.