The NBA regular season is right around the corner, and the betting favorites to win the Eastern Conference will be shown on the national stage plenty. With the slow trickle of nationally-televised games being announced, the Cleveland Cavaliers have had their name pop up already.
We already know that the Cavs will be rejoining the NBA’s prestigious Christmas Day slate, but the NBA announced that they will also be part of ESPN’s opening week games, NBC’s first Peacock-exclusive games, and on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day schedule as well.
The Cavs will play the New York Knicks on October 22nd on ESPN, potentially Cleveland’s first game of the season. The two teams, likely the top two teams in the conference this season, will also face off on Christmas Day.
There is a new stage this year as well, with NBC joining the fray to replace Turner Sports and TNT. The Cavs will be on Peacock’s first exclusive block of games on October 27th and will travel to Detroit to play the Pistons.
And finally, the Cavs will play the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on MLK Day as part of a four-game national slate once again on Peacock. The Cavs and Thunder played on ESPN twice last season, and it would be surprising to not see both of their matchups eventually put on the national schedule barring some calamity with either team.
While the full schedules and nationally-televised games have not yet been announced, the Cavs should expect to get more of them. With the Eastern Conference so depleted due to injuries, Cleveland moves up to be the premier team. It helps that they won 64 games last season and brought back almost their entire team.