The Philadelphia 76ers' 2024-25 schedule is finally here.
The addition of Paul George has infused the Sixers with excitement heading into this season. With a new star trio and a supporting cast featuring some of the key contributors from last season as well as key newcomers like Caleb Martin and Andre Drummond, Philly’s roster is mostly complete. The front office also has plenty of trade materials to upgrade during the season.
The 76ers open their season at home for the first time since the 2020-21 season, hosting the Milwaukee Bucks. They’ll face old pal Tobias Harris in their second home game on Wednesday, October 30. The Sixers have 15 back-to-backs scheduled, two six-game long road trips and seven home games in their final 10 regular-season contests. They will be on national television 27 times, starting with their season opener on ESPN.
Here are the biggest highlights of the 76ers' 2024-25 schedule.
1. Christmas Day @ Boston Celtics
The 76ers are once again playing on Christmas Day. After losing to the Miami Heat last season, they'll face another one of their main Eastern Conference foes in their house at 5:00 P.M. EST on ABC.
The Celtics are the team to beat after winning the championship in dominant fashion last season. They locked their core in for the next few seasons and are watching as teams below them in the standings load up with the hopes of challenging them. Once again, they provide the ultimate litmus test for Embiid and company. Christmas will be their first matchup of the season.
In addition to the age-old rivalry of Stephen Curry and LeBron James and the budding rivalry between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks, last season’s finalists in the Western Conference playoffs, 76ers vs. Celtics is a classic matchup of two teams with history and plenty to play for in the present. This game marks the third time Philly and Boston have played on Christmas and a chance for the Sixers to collect their first win against the C's on Xmas.
The 76ers' other game in Boston is on Thursday, March 6 at 7:30 P.M. EST. They’ll host the Celtics on Sunday, February 2 at 6:00 P.M. EST and on Thursday, February 20 at 7:00 P.M. EST. The game on February 2 will be broadcast by ESPN and the other two will be on TNT. That’s a perfect four-for-four on games between two of the East heavyweights to be on national TV.
2. Paul George's first game @ Los Angeles Clippers
George will make his debut at the new Intuit Dome and face his old team on Wednesday, November 6 at 10:00 P.M. EST on ESPN. It's pretty early in the season for Philly to head to the West Coast — they face the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers on each side of George's return — but the schedule makers obviously wanted to make sure George got the chance to face the Los Angeles Clippers in his hometown.
Matchups between the 76ers and Clippers for the foreseeable future will pit two veteran stars against their former teams. James Harden has already gotten his first cracks at the Sixers, losing at home but picking up a win at the Wells Fargo Center. Now it's George's chance to return.
George spent five seasons with the Clippers before departing in free agency after contract discussions stalled out. The split seemed to be amicable but L.A. fans will still be very loud and eager to boo George, who helped lead the team to its first-ever Western Conference Finals appearance in 2021 but still came up empty in the playoffs too often. The Clippers will be eager to stick it to George — and the Sixers try to help George stick it right back.
The 76ers will welcome the Clippers to their place on Sunday, November 24 at 6:00 P.M. EST. Nico Batum will face a Philly crowd that really wished he had stayed instead of returning to the Clips.
3. First NBA Cup game vs. New York Knicks
After a very hard-fought playoff series, the 76ers and Knicks are eager to go after one another. Widely seen as the best teams in the East behind Boston, Philly and New York have a lot of proving to do as they each vie for the championship. They’ll see each other four times in the regular season, including for the first time on Tuesday, November 12 for a 7:30 P.M. EST showdown on TNT.
The 76ers, Knicks and Orlando Magic will be duking it out to win East Group A, which also features the lowly Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets. Although they will have to play the Magic on the road, getting to play the in-season tournament game against their biggest group competitor at home is huge for the Sixers.
The Knicks swung a massive trade to land Mikal Bridges, completing the quartet of Villanova buddies (sorry, Ryan Arcidiacono), while retaining OG Anunoby. They did, however, lose starting center Isaiah Hartenstein and will have to look for a mid-season trade to address his absence. Whether or not they do, they will have a very deep team with talent all over the wings to support a pair of All-Stars.
The 76ers' other home game against the Knicks is scheduled for Wednesday, January 15 at 7:30 P.M. EST. That game will be on ESPN. They will play in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, February 26 at 7:00 P.M. EST on ESPN and Tuesday, April 1 at 7:30 P.M. EST on TNT. Once again, that’s four nationally televised games against a key conference rival.
4. Season-opener vs. Milwaukee Bucks
The 76ers opened their 2023-24 season against Milwaukee, taking a road loss with a roster that would be remade just days later after Philly and the Clippers finally struck an agreement on a Harden trade. Although the Sixers project to be better than the Bucks this season, they are not to be taken lightly. They’ll start the season in the Wells Fargo Center against Milwaukee on Wednesday, October 23. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 7:30 P.M. EST.
While the Celtics, 76ers and Knicks are widely seen as the cream of the crop in the East, the Bucks still have a formidable roster. Giannis Antetokounmpo just set career highs in field-goal percentage (61.1) and assists per game (6.5) last season while averaging 30.4 points and 11.5 rebounds. Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton are starting to get written off because of their age — and they indeed have seen their best days come and go — but the former is still a nuclear scorer and the latter was very efficient last season.
Although Brook Lopez is really getting up there in age, he still provides the shooting and interior defense that make it harder to slow down the Greek Freak. With depth rounded out by free-agency additions Delon Wright, Gary Trent Jr. and Taurean Prince, Milwaukee is still a formidable squad. Former Sixers head coach Doc Rivers will surely be hungry for victory against his former team.
In addition to the season-opening showdown, the 76ers will host the Bucks in a face-off on TNT on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 P.M. EST. Philly will travel to Milwaukee for games on Sunday, January 19 at 7:00 P.M. EST and Sunday, February 9 at 2:00 P.M. EST., the second of which will be on ABC.
5. First matchup against Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
The Embiid-Jokic rivalry remains mostly a media-fueled product of dueling fanbases. Still, although each superstar respects the other immensely, the hype over matchups between two of basketball's most talented titans is not going away, especially after Embiid and Team USA defeated Jokic and the Serbian national team on its conquest of the Olympic gold medal.
The 76ers travel to Denver for a game on Tuesday, January 21 at 10:00 P.M. EST and then welcome the Nuggets to town on Friday, January 31 for a 7:30 P.M. EST game. The first game will be on TNT as part of the NBA’s Rivals Week and the second one on ESPN.
The Nuggets and 76ers had opposite offseasons, as Denver watched one of its key starters depart in free agency while Philly secured perhaps the best player to change teams. Denver did add former Sixer Dario Saric and Russell Westbrook, who has had some beef over the years with Embiid, so at least its new reinforcements will be worth watching against Philadelphia.
After the delirious, insane rhetoric around Embiid “ducking” Jokic when he was a late scratch last season, everyone will be waiting to see if this is the year he suits up for a game in the Rocky Mountains. Nuggets fans will miss having one of their favorite talking points if that happens, though.
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