The NBA has officially announced the slate of games for opening night, Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Day, as well as some nationally broadcast games.

This is a huge deal for several reasons. Obviously, we have LeBron’s debut in the famed purple and gold. Not to mention some of the nationally televised games that don’t exactly fall on important dates.

The Christmas Day games are basically a holiday on top of another holiday. While the majority of the nation will be celebrating gifts brought to them by a slightly chubby fellow breaking in their house, others will ignore family members for the sake of NBA hoops.

As for Martin Luther King Day, the games on those days have grown to be of increased importance, likely only falling behind opening night and Christmas Day as the biggest regular season date on the league calendar.

And, of course, opening night is awesome because it is the first professional basketball played of the regular season.

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Wynton Jackson ·

Paul Pierce, Jason Terry, Kevin Garnett all together on the Nets on the left side of the graphic. Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant all together on the Lakers on the right side of the graphic. In the middle of the graphic is Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker on the Suns. Thumbs down emojis and downward facing arrows around the graphic.

Bailey Bassett ·

Photo: Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker in action, Jusuf Nurkic behind them with an open door behind him, all players in Suns jerseys.

Diego Vergel de Dios ·

Do you guys believe Adam Silver and his league buddies got this right or do you think any specific teams got snubbed?

The NBA season is getting close. So close. Maybe too close. Nah, it needs to be here now.