In what has become something of an event for the NBA, the Denver Nuggets released their schedule today for the 2024-25 season.

Including preseason and In-Season tournament dates, the entire schedule is now public, and there are several takeaways to be made:

First and foremost, the Nuggets will open their regular season on Thursday, October 24th against the Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT. A much anticipated matchup between the top two seeds in the Western Conference last season, the Thunder signed former Nugget and New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein and traded for guard Alex Caruso. The Thunder are formidable and are currently favorites to represent the West in the NBA Finals in 2025.

After that, the Nuggets will host the Los Angeles Clippers the following Saturday, Russell Westbrook’s former team. Both matchups will be extremely interesting to see how Westbrook impacts the Nuggets bench lineups early on and if he ends up closing games in a role vacated by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

The Nuggets will play 22 total national games this year, plus any additional games involving the NBA Cup. Seven games will be played on TNT, 11 on ESPN, and four on ABC. Denver played just two games on ABC last season, seen as the NBA’s premiere network and viewing opportunity, so having four games on the network this season is a sign of respect. Denver will play at Minnesota on January 25th, vs the Los Angeles Lakers on February 22nd, at the Boston Celtics on March 2nd, and at the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 9th, all on ABC.

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers will come to Denver on January 21st this year, while the Nuggets will go to Philadelphia on January 31st as part of a five-game road trip. It’s the first time in a while that the Denver game will take place before the Philadelphia game, which may lead to a fully healthy matchup between Embiid and Nikola Jokic this time around. It’s impossible to predict injuries, but the NBA is making sure there are no back-to-backs prior to major national television games this year.

Of course, contrary to the tweet above, the Nuggets will face the Charlotte Hornets on the second night of a back-to-back immediately following the matchup against the 76ers on January 31st. Perhaps it’s a work-in-progress option for the schedule.

The Nuggets as a team will play 16 back-to-backs this year, a high number in proportion to the rest of the league and a higher total than last year. The league (likely) balanced out that higher tally with some weaker opponents for Denver. Of the 16 games Denver plays on the second night of a back-to-back (nearly 20% of their season) the average playoff seed of the teams Denver will face is roughly 10.0. Seven are against playoff or play-in teams, while nine are against non-playoff teams from 2023-24. That’s about as kind as it gets for a back-to-back, though it means the Nuggets may struggle to maintain focus in those situations.

Overall, every team has to deal with the schedule laid out for them. The Nuggets will have challenges and burdens, but they will also have easy parts of the schedule too. October and November will likely be difficult, but December should be easy despite more road games than home games. It’s on Michael Malone and his coaching staff to make sure the team is prepared, and it’s on Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray especially to make sure they’re leading the team well through the easy and difficult parts effectively.

Time will tell how difficult it will be, but it’s always nice to see the schedule for the first time.

It’s also a time to have some fun.