As the start of the 2023-24 NBA season inches closer, some of the Los Angeles Lakers’ marquee games are starting to trickle in ahead of the league’s annual schedule release.
As is usually the case, the Lakers will be playing on the league’s two biggest nights in the first half of the regular season. They will travel to take on the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Opening Night on Oct. 24, watching the team that beat them in the Western Conference Finals get their championship rings.
The Lakers will then be at home on Christmas Day, hosting the rival Boston Celtics in what is a star-studded day for the NBA as a whole. Other Christmas Day matchups include the Milwaukee Bucks against the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers against the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks against the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors against the Nuggets.
Now, it is being reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic that the Lakers’ home opener will come on Oct. 26 against Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Suns:
Three more notable games on NBA’s 2023-24 season schedule – including the date Lakers‘ LeBron James and Suns‘ Kevin Durant face off for first time since 2018: pic.twitter.com/hcJ42DUFFc
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 11, 2023
The last time that LeBron James and Durant have shared the floor together was on Christmas Day in 2018, James’ first season with the Lakers. Either one or both players have been injured in every matchup since then, so the league will be hoping that scheduling this matchup so early in the season in just the second game will allow for both James and Durant, two of the league’s biggest stars, to compete against each other for the first time in half a decade.
Both the Lakers and Suns play in the Pacific Division though, so if it doesn’t happen on Oct. 26 then there will be three other opportunities throughout the course of the regular season.
Vogel will be coaching Suns
All four matchups between the Lakers and Suns will be highly-anticipated due to the star power on both sides. Additionally, former Lakers head coach Frank Vogel is now leading the Suns, which should add even more intrigue.
All five of the Pacific Division teams have championship aspirations in 2023-24, so the head-to-head matchups will be ultra important for deciding playoff seeding starting on Oct. 26.
Vogel is obviously very familiar with the games of James and Anthony Davis so it will be interesting to see how he fares coaching against his former duo for the first time.
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