On Thursday, after a few days of gradual reveals, the NBA schedule came out in full, aside from the two to-be-determined games in December pending the results of the NBA Cup. The Knicks now know where and when they’ll be playing the other 29 teams that spent the entire offseason trying to figure out how to take down our NBA champion Knickerbockers.
Today I’m going to highlight individual games, stretches, and notable parts that you might miss glossing over the schedule, because let’s face it: a schedule where
you play everyone multiple times doesn’t have much luster.
Ring Night – 10/20 vs. PHI
One of the several games we were already aware of, the single most anticipated regular season game maybe in franchise history, will also be used by the NBA to introduce the new-look Sixers and their 41-year-old shiny new toy, LeBron James.
He’s likely the reason they got the nod over the last team to beat the Knicks in the postseason with a returning All-NBA guard, but I’ve also just recently thought of the other reason: there are no guarantees that their vaunted starting five will be healthy for extended stretches of time with you know who in the middle. Opening Night is maybe the only time they can guarantee that.
Of course, the main course of the night for us will be the pregame festivities. Ariel Hukporti will be in town to get his ring, as will at least 12 of the 18 men who enjoyed the festivities in June (will Dillon Jones or Kevin McCullar Jr. return on two-ways?). Over/under 2.5 new banners in the rafters; call it now.
Holidays – 11/27 vs MIA, 12/25 vs SA, 12/31 @ PHX, 1/18 vs MIN, 3/17 vs SAC, 3/28 @ ORL
You’ll get to enjoy Knicks basketball on plenty of special occasions this year, starting with their first look at Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Miami Heat on Black Friday and the already-revealed Christmas clash with the Spurs.
For the second straight year, the Knicks go out west on New Year’s Eve for a game that will likely end close to midnight over here in Phoenix at 9:00. You can probably guess why, but the Knicks haven’t hosted a game on NYE since 1968 against the Baltimore Bullets.
A 5 pm matchup with Anthony Edwards and the T-Wolves on MLK Day, a St. Patty’s Day game against the Kings, and an Easter matinee in Orlando round out the holiday slate.
Longest Homestand – 5 games (Nov 21-29)
There’s only one homestand longer than four games for the Knicks, and it comes early, as the Knicks will play five consecutive games at the World’s Most Famous Arena to end November. It’ll start with a back-to-back against Portland and Indiana before two days off leading into a pair of NBA Cup games that’ll surround Thanksgiving. A Sunday night game against Atlanta will round it out
Longest Road Trip – 7 games* (Dec 1-21)
This is a really weird schedule. The Knicks go from a five-game homestand directly into a seven-game road trip. Then, after spending a week at home in late December surrounding the blockbuster Christmas matchup against the Spurs, they go out west for a six-game road trip.
That 7-game stretch is certainly something, but it also needs an asterisk due to the NBA Cup. As scheduled, the Knicks will play a back-to-back in Chicago and Milwaukee to start, before a 10-day gap. In that gap, the NBA Cup knockout round will commence. After it does, the Knicks will head to Miami on December 12 before ping-ponging around Houston, New Orleans, Washington, and Cleveland.
This could wind up being a five-game road trip, or could be a ridiculous 10-game stretch without any games in MSG depending on the context:
12/1: @ Chicago
12/2: @ Milwaukee
12/4 or 12/5: NBA Cup QF
12/8 or 12/9: NBA Cup SF
12/11: NBA Cup Final (Indy)
12/12: @ Miami
12/14: @ Houston
12/16: @ New Orleans
12/18: @ Washington
12/21: @ Cleveland
There is a guaranteed six-game road trip that begins nine days later for good measure. The Knicks head to Utah on December 30, spend New Year’s in Phoenix, look to repeat recent dominance in Denver to start 2027, and then play three consecutive 10 pm games in Portland, Golden State, and Sacramento. What a six-week stretch.
NBA Cup – 10/30 @ PHI, 11/13 @ IND, 11/25 vs CLE, 11/27 vs MIA
It’s only right that the reigning NBA Cup champions get drawn into maybe the hardest group possible. This is taking Group of Death to another level. If you’re wondering how this is possible, the NBA tries to “balance” groups by using last year’s standings, and because of how bad Indiana was in their gap year along with the mediocrity of both Philly and Miami, this is what you get.
We start off by facing the Sixers for the second time before October is over in MSG Philly Xfinity Mobile Arena, face Tyrese Haliburton and company for the first time since Tom Thibodeau was on the sideline two weeks later in Indy, and then head home for back-to-back Cup games around Thanksgiving against the Cavs and Giannis-led Miami Heat. It’s funny how the only one of these games on regular TV is an ECF rematch, just to tell you how much the league respects those Cavaliers now.
Vaunted Back-to-Backs
The Knicks are tied for the fewest road back-to-back games with five, according to NBA Today, so that’s nice. Still, there are 12 back-to-backs on the schedule, but the Knicks are fortunate to have a number of them stay within the confines of Madison Square Garden.
Here are some of the tougher ones on the schedule:
Oct 27-28th: vs. DET, @ CHI
Dec 30-31th: @ UTAH, @ PHX
Jan 13-14th: @ BOS, vs. MIA
Feb 3-4th: @ DET, vs. TOR
(There is also a possibility of a December 11-12th back-to-back from the NBA Cup Final and a trip to South Beach, not great).
Coffee Games
Good news: the NBA has once again spared us of the 11:00 games that they’re doing on weekdays for some ungodly reason.
Bad news: there’s still a bunch of late games.
Here’s a list of every game starting 9:30 pm EST or later:
Mon, Jan 4: @ Portland (10:00)
Wed, Jan 6: @ Golden State (10:00, ESPN)
Fri, Jan 8: @ Sacramento (10:00)
Sun, Feb 7: @ Oklahoma City (9:30, NBC)
Thu, Mar 4: @ Dallas (9:30, Prime Video)
Wed, Mar 10: @ Clippers (10:30)
Thu, Mar 11: @ Lakers (10:00, Prime Video)
Old Friends Returning To MSG
Ring Edition:
Ariel Hukporti (PHI): October 20th (NBC)
Jeremy Sochan (POR): November 21st
Trey Jemison III (TOR): January 20th
Mitchell Robinson (BOS): March 14th (ABC)
OAKAAK Edition:
Julius Randle (BKN): Nov 2, Dec 27
RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley (TOR): Jan 20, Feb 4
Mario Hezonja (CLE): Nov 11, Nov 25
Obi Toppin (IND): Nov 22, Apr 11
Jericho Sims (MIL): Nov 10, Feb 28
Trevor Keels, Bobby Portis, Tim Hardaway Jr. (MIA): Nov 27, Jan 14
Donte DiVincenzo (MIN): Jan 18 (won’t play due to a torn Achilles)
Isaiah Hartenstein (OKC): Feb 25
Kristaps Porzingis (GS): Feb 13
Quentin Grimes (LAL): Jan 30
Precious Achiuwa (SAC): Mar 17
Taj Gibson (MEM): Mar 2
Notable Individual Games
Fri, Oct 23rd @ BOS (7:00, Prime Video): Mike Brown is required to playfully do the Hack-a-Mitch as soon as he walks on the court. His mentor would be proud.
Tues, Oct 27th vs. DET (8:00, NBC): Man, you really forget that the Pistons were the best team in the East all year last year, huh? I can’t imagine they’re going to win all these games by 30 again, right?
Fri, Oct 30th @ PHI (7:30, Prime Video): This is an NBA Cup game, but the more important thing to me is seeing if LeBron is enough to stop Knicks fans from invading. Who am I kidding? Sixers fans cried poor at $100 playoff tickets; they’re not spending $500 to go to this game.
Sun, Nov 22nd vs. IND (8:00, MSG): Did you know that neither Pacers/Knicks game in New York is nationally televised? That feels like an oversight. This will be Tyrese Haliburton’s first game at MSG since that Eastern Conference Finals matchup immortalized him as a villain. The other game at MSG will be a meaningless Game 82, most likely.
Sat, Jan 2nd @ DEN (5:00, MSG): Here’s your yearly reminder that the Knicks have outscored the Nuggets by a whopping 66 points the last two times they’ve played at “the toughest road atmosphere in basketball”
Thu, Jan 28th vs. ATL (7:00, Prime Video)
Sat, Jan 30th vs. LAL (8:30, ABC): This is being categorized as “Rivalry Week”. There are at least six teams I would name as bigger rivals than the Lakers (who we haven’t played a meaningful game against in 50 years) and the Hawks (who got embarrassed last April by their main antagonist in Washington now).
Wed, Feb 3rd @ DET (7:00, ESPN): This is the 2027 NBA Pioneers Classic, a now-annual event by the NBA to honor the memory of the first black players to integrate the league in 1950. The Bucks and Celtics played the inaugural edition last year with commemorative patches and pregame warmups. There’s also a trophy at stake if we want to keep collecting.
Sun, Mar 7th @ SA (7:30, NBC): Will the Spurs’ PA sound guy dare to play the goofy music after being walked down in their own building three times in a row last June?
Sat, Mar 20th vs. WAS (7:00, MSG): This is the only time the Wizards head to town this year, and there are a few questions here. AJ Dybantsa will be a treat to watch, for sure, but will we actually get to see Trae Young and Anthony Davis play? In a hyper-competitive East, it wouldn’t be shocking if they were shut down by now if the Wizards had some growing pains.
