Defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics , will reportedly tip off the 2024/25 NBA season on October 22 by hosting the New York Knicks in a ring night ceremony.
The Celtics will unveil their championship rings during the ceremony to celebrate their record 18th NBA championship. The second game of the night is said to feature the Minnesota Timberwolves visiting the Los Angeles Lakers with both games to be broadcast on TNT.
Those dates and fixtures were reported by The Athletic’s NBA Insider Shams Charania. He also revealed that the Celtics and Dallas Mavericks NBA Finals rematch dates for the upcoming season will be played on January 25 in Dallas and February 6 in Boston.
Charania continued to report that another opener on October 23 sees the Milwaukee Bucks at the Philadelphia 76ers . While the Los Angeles Clippers are slated to open their new Intuit Dome for their regular season opener on the same day as they host the Phoenix Suns .
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The Celtics begin the defense of their championship in the first part of the opening night doubleheader against the Knicks, who are the two teams tipped to continue their form from last season to be the best two teams in the Eastern Conference again.
In the Western Conference opener between the Timberwolves and Lakers, Minnesota’s potential to build upon their third place finish in the division last season and reaching the conference finals has made Anthony Edwards and co. an exciting prospect heading into the new campaign.
The return to NBA action comes after the league’s stars teamed up to win gold for the United States in the Paris Olympics . Team USA sealed their fifth consecutive Olympic triumph with a 98-87 win against hosts France in the final.
The gold medal contest broke viewing figures on NBC and Peacock, becoming the most-watched basketball game since the 1996 Atlanta Games – peaking at 22.7million viewers and averaging 19.6m. For comparison, last season’s NBA Finals averaged viewing figures of 11.3m a game.
Opening the season will be all the fire that Celtics star Jayson Tatum needs after he found himself on the periphery of Steve Kerr’s gold-medal-winning team. The frustration in the Tatum camp proved too much for his mother, who hit out at Kerr after a fan questioned whether his absence was due to injury.
Tatum's mother responded: "No he not. But if you find out what’s going on please let me know – unacceptable and makes NO SENSE." She then followed with another tweet, adding: "If Kerr is watching this and willingly deciding ‘Yeah, Jayson Tatum couldn’t help here’ then he legitimately cannot coach in 2028."
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