Interpretation of the NBA new season schedule: James Curry is still the facade, the 76ers are punished

Unlike other professional sports leagues (not every team will play every season in those leagues), the NBA schedule has some stability, ensuring that all 30 teams will play at least twice in 82 regular season games. That's why there are few unexpected things every August schedule is announced.

Nevertheless, some must-see exciting showdowns will be unveiled, and the release of the schedule basically marks the beginning of the new NBA season.

Of course, the release of the offseason NBA schedule gives fans a glimpse of the national live game.

With the new media copyright agreement in effect, TNT and NBA TV are no longer in the broadcast lineup, and they are replaced by NBC, Peacock and Amazon Prime. ESPN and ABC will continue to broadcast the game throughout this season.

Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors are the two of the four teams with the most TV broadcasts in the country next season, with LeBron James and Stephen Curry. The team tied with the Lakers and Warriors are the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New York Knicks - all four teams will have 34 nationally-TV games.

In addition to the number of game games released nationwide, another more significant information released on Thursday is the number of back-to-back games. The league confirmed the holiday game schedule, announced this year's "Battlefield Week" and finalized the date for key players who switched to the new team this summer's offseason to return to the old home court.

Kevin Durant, Michael Porter Jr., Bradley Bill, Myers Turner, Desmond Bain and many other players, if you are willing to say that, they will usher in their "revenge battle" this season.

There are many things worth discussing about the release of the 2025-26 NBA schedule. The first is that although their legendary careers are coming to an end, LeBron and Stephen are obviously still the top two figures in the league.

If there are any questions about who will be the NBA facade in the 2025-26 season, Adam Xiaohua and the league office gave the answer in Thursday's schedule release.

Authentic, New York is a big market, and the Oklahoma City Thunder just won the first championship in the team history, but what NBA fans want to see most are LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

This is why the Lakers and Warriors are tied with the Thunder and the Knicks to become the team with the most TV broadcasts in the country in the new season.

Until these two legends retire, they will remain the highest spokesperson for American basketball. This was fully confirmed in 2024, when they led the United States to win the gold medal at the French Olympics with Kevin Durant.

James and Curry are not only players who have won MVPs many times, but they have also won 8 of the past 14 championships together. It is no coincidence that the league continues to promote them as a league facade.

As long as they stay healthy and play in the field, LeBron and Stephen will continue to be the focus of television. The

NBA's trading deadline has always been one of the craziest moments in the league.

There is always a disturbing feeling for players whose names appear in trade rumors; and for those who may be forced to leave their families and move to other places halfway through, this uncertainty always brings great pressure.

The trading deadline for this season is scheduled for 3 pm Eastern Time on Thursday, February 5. According to the NBA schedule, there will be 8 games on that day, involving 16 teams.

Now is the time for the NBA to set the trading deadline as a truce for the entire league, so just let everyone take a day off?

Considering the high mood of players and the fact that some players are excluded from the roster due to the pending deal, it makes sense to allow teams and players to have their own day. Warriors head coach Steve Cole has been advocating this, and he made such a change proposal to the league after the trade deadline last season.

Cole told reporters in February: "I think the league should consider setting the trade deadline for the All-Star Weekend. This way, there is no need to face those players who are traded half an hour before the start of the game. While dealing with mood swings, they also have to work hard to win the game."

Cole and the Warriors experienced the problem of Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and Dennis Schroeder's inability to play after getting Jimmy Butler through the trade, and encountered this dilemma.

Of the 16 teams that played on the trading deadline, 5 will face back-to-back situations.

Since the NBA All-Star offseason will begin in the following week, it may be most reasonable to arrange the trade deadline with the one-week All-Star offseason, which will give everyone the right time to adapt to changes caused by the trade.

Joel Embiid continues to fight a knee injury, which has caused many in the league to worry about his long-term health; Paul George recently underwent knee surgery during the offseason, which makes it questionable whether he can attend training camp.

The NBA schedule announced on Thursday was not good for the Sixers; as a result, they tied with the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets, becoming the team with the most back-to-back games in the league in the 2025-26 season. Philadelphia will have 16 back-to-back games this season, meaning a total of 32 games, or 39% of its schedule, will face this daunting back-to-back situation.

This is not a good thing for the Sixers, who are not healthy as they enter the new season and have made it clear that Embiid may not play back-to-back games for the rest of his career.

It is very worth noting about not only how Nick Nass manages the playing time of his star players this season, but also how the Sixers will be in the relatively weak East. This team can certainly regain competitiveness, but health will be the decisive factor in determining the final direction of the 76ers in the 2025-26 season. One of the most important observations released on Thursday’s schedule is that the teams most affected by injuries last season will have the least rest between most of their games this season.

This is a cruel fact for the Sixers and their fans.

In addition to classic matchups like the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Los Angeles Clippers and the New York Knicks vs. the Philadelphia 76ers, the remake of the 2025 NBA Finals will be staged in Oklahoma City.

But overall, it is not very reasonable to be named "old enemy" in some of these duels, especially national television matches.

Obviously, everyone wants to watch the Lakers visit Dallas to challenge the Mavericks, but is this really a battle of old enemies? From Luka Doncic's perspective, this is definitely a battle of revenge, but these two teams have been unable to be considered old enemies for a while. The same is true for the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Charlotte Hornets, the only connection between the two organizations is that their city names both start with the letter C, and this game will feature a showdown between the two Ball brothers - Lonzo Ball (Cavs) vs. Lamelo Ball (Hornets).

In addition, when did the Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks become old enemies? Although the Thunder lost to the Bucks in the 2024 NBA Cup Championship, there is little history to be said between the two teams.

If you want to highlight the league's most exciting hostile matchup, you should arrange the Warriors against the Houston Rockets, or the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Denver Nuggets. Even the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the Denver Nuggets can be regarded as a kind of old enemy relationship today.

And most importantly, what about the Bucks and the Indiana Pacers?

The two teams have a fierce clash in almost every encounter, and Miles Turner has just left the Pacers to join the Bucks. The Pacers have just won the Eastern Conference championship and if the showdown could be broadcast live nationwide in "Enemy Week", it would have been one of the most anticipated Enemy matches.

Although there are some exciting games on the schedule for this week in January, the league does not seem to fully tap into the profound significance of the real enemy relationship in the current NBA. Everyone hopes to see those hostile teams in the "Enemy Enemy Week", but we can't help but wonder why some of these matches are considered as old enemies.

Players returning to their old places to play against their old clubs always bring a special atmosphere.

For example, there was a humble and wonderful moment when Klay Thompson returned to San Francisco. There are also games like last season when the Lakers visited the Mavericks (Doncic faced his old club for the first time after being traded).

Although it was also a warm moment for Luca and Mavericks fans, it really felt like a revenge battle with Doncic with a kind of proven determination.

So, which return games will be warm moments, and which will be the real battle of revenge?

The biggest player is Kevin Durant, who will trade his Phoenix Suns for the first time on November 24 (traded to the Rockets during the offseason). There should be many Phoenix fans cheering for him by then, but he has taken the initiative to seek a deal this offseason. This game will receive mixed reviews from Suns fans.

Chris Middleton returns to Milwaukee, Kevin Looney and Andrew Wiggins return to Golden State, and Michael Porter Jr. return to Denver, all of which are applause and cheers. All of these players are loved by their original teams and have won championships for their respective teams, so there should be no resentment.

But for Miles Turner and the Pacers, it's different.

After Tyres Halliburton suffered an Achilles tendon injury after the finals, Turner chose to switch to the Bucks this summer offseason. Oh, and the Bucks happen to be the Pacers’ No. 1 nemesis, which should make Indiana fans in a good mood.

While Turner has contributed to the Pacers, he will surely welcome a large number of booing and angry fans when he returns to Indiana on November 3. Please circle this date on your calendar and make sure you can watch NBA League Pass that day!

Apart from Turner, there are not many real battles of revenge on this year's NBA schedule. Most of the return will be accompanied by gratitude and appreciation, but from every player’s perspective, they will put in a little more effort that night to prove something to the former club.

Finding out when players will return to the old master's game against their old club has always been a highlight of the NBA schedule.