20 games to mark on the 2019-20 NBA schedule

Unfortunately we’ll have to wait to see the duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in Los Angeles Clippers colors, as George is  scheduled  to miss at least the season’s first 10 games as he recovers from shoulder surgery. On paper that gives the edge in this matchup to Los Angeles Lakers superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. You can be sure Kawhi Leonard, the reigning NBA Finals MVP who first earned that honor back in 2014 when he and the San Antonio Spurs downed James and the Miami Heat, won’t want to disappoint in his home debut with his new employer. 

Per ESPN , Kevin Durant blasted the New York Knicks months after he and Kyrie Irving spurned the organization to sign with the Brooklyn Nets, saying “that whole brand of the Knicks is not as cool as let's say the Golden State Warriors, or even the Lakers or the Nets now.” Durant won’t be on the court when Brooklyn hosts New York on Oct. 25, as the two-time champion and two-time Finals MVP likely will miss the entire campaign while recovering from a ruptured Achilles. We’re hoping a  facial fracture won’t sideline Irving that night. 

It’s a new day in the Western Conference, as the Golden State Warriors will be without Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson when they host the Portland Trail Blazers in a rematch of the 2019 Conference Finals. While Stephen Curry and D'Angelo Russell should still be building chemistry in the early stages of Golden State’s latest experiment, familiar Portland names such as Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Zach Collins, among others, will have revenge in their hearts. Is this the year Portland gets past Golden State and makes it to the NBA Finals?

The last time we saw Kawhi Leonard face Giannis Antetokounmpo, the eventual 2019 NBA Finals MVP put  clamps on the Greek Freak  en route to guiding the Toronto Raptors past the Milwaukee Bucks. Antetokounmpo can show off what he hopes to be  an improved jumper in a nationally televised game, while Leonard and the rest of the Clippers will keep fingers crossed that Paul George can debut ahead of schedule. Will we be watching a preview of the 2020 championship series during the first week of November? 

Point guard Kemba Walker never won a playoff series throughout his eight seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, and the 29-year-old left the only NBA home he’d ever known for the Boston Celtics this past summer. In early October, Walker told  Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer that he “had no hard feelings at all” about his former club, and he also spoke about his fondness for the Charlotte region. Hornets fans should give him a standing ovation when he returns home. 

Kristaps Porzingis reportedly did not merely request a trade from the New York Knicks last January. The unicorn who suffered a torn ACL in February 2018 also allegedly  threatened to return to Europe  if the Knicks didn’t grant him his wish. New York traded Lordzingis before the 2019 deadline, and the now-healthy 7-footer and 2018-19 Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic will play at Madison Square Garden for the first time as teammates on Nov. 14. Perhaps before the game, Porzingis can  call into WFAN to speak with Mike Francesa again. 

The Memphis Grizzlies selected guard Mike Conley fourth overall in 2007, and Conley spent every subsequent season with the franchise through the spring of 2019. With Memphis needing to build around Jaren Jackson Jr. and rookie Ja Morant, the franchise traded the member of the adored Grit 'n' Grind Grizzlies to the Utah Jazz in July. Conley’s return to Memphis will feature him playing alongside Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic and Rudy Gobert for a Jazz side that could make a deep playoff run next spring.

Kyrie Irving orchestrated a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2017, and he spent all of two seasons in Beantown before ditching that franchise in favor of the Brooklyn Nets. Per  ESPN’s Jalen Rose, the Celtics weren’t too broken up about Irving moving to the Big Apple even if the team’s overall roster is worse without the one-time champion. 

Boston should see plenty of Irving over Thanksgiving week. The Celtics host the Nets on Nov. 27, and Boston then travels to Brooklyn for the second leg of a home-and-home on Nov. 29. 

New Orleans Pelicans fans didn’t hesitate to boo Anthony Davis after he requested a trade in late January . We can’t wait to see how those customers welcome Davis home when he and the Los Angeles Lakers journey to New Orleans in late November. Remember, though, that this isn’t the game’s only intriguing storyline. Lakers castoffs Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram should have plenty to prove to LeBron James and their former club that evening.  Oh yeah: The Pelicans also have this rookie you’ve likely heard of named Zion Williamson. Imagine the reactions if Williamson posterizes either James or Davis. 

Kawhi Leonard will forever be a hero among the Toronto Raptors faithful for helping the franchise win its first NBA title in June 2019. The Raptors couldn’t convince Leonard to commit his long-term future up North, however, and the two-time Finals MVP signed with the Los Angeles Clippers and recruited Paul George to join him out West, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Leonard shouldn’t receive anything other than applause and cheers from Toronto fans before those on the Raptors roster look to show him in person that they can get along without the MVP just fine. 

Things between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Paul George seemed to be going swimmingly in the summer of 2018 when the two entities agreed upon a multiyear contract . As previously mentioned, George had his head turned by Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers, however, and OKC traded the forward out west as part of a rebuilding process that included moving on from Russell Westbrook. If the Thunder have any say in the matter, Chris Paul  won’t be with Oklahoma City on the second official day of winter. 

Hours after you’ve discovered what Santa Claus left underneath your tree and inside of your stockings, the NBA will present you with a potential Eastern Conference Finals preview. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid could both be MVP and Defensive Player of the Year candidates, and Milwaukee and Philadelphia will begin the season expected to finish one-two in the conference standings. The Bucks took two of three from the Sixers in  2018-19. 

Right as The Grinch is preparing to carve the roast beast, the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors will provide a tasty Christmas dessert. By that point of the season, plenty of questions hovering over the James Harden-Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry-D'Angelo Russell duos will have been answered. The Warriors may already be shopping Russell if he and Curry aren’t crooning from the same songbook during the holidays. Then again, it may be Westbrook and Harden who aren't in sharing moods after they open their holiday gifts.

At least when Russell Westbrook grabs rebounds from Oklahoma City Thunder big man Steven Adams on Jan. 9, Russ will be playing for the Houston Rockets and won’t be swiping boards from a teammate. Westbrook gave the Thunder 11 seasons, and he stuck around while others, such as James Harden and Kevin Durant, bolted. OKC trading the 2016-17 regular-season MVP during the summer was the right move for all involved, though, as the Thunder weren’t going to be ready to compete with the conference’s top-tier teams for years to come with Westbrook on the roster.

Boston Celtics fans can only dream of what could have been had Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis  teamed up with the historic franchise. Instead, Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets, and Davis joined LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Perhaps you remember that Irving and James were once teammates with the Cleveland Cavaliers before Kyrie asked to be traded and that Irving later apologized to James for his antics as a younger player. James and Irving may not be bitter rivals, but there's always a chance for fireworks when the competitors share the court as opponents. 

Both Los Angeles clubs and the Houston Rockets made flashier splashes this past offseason, but don’t overlook either the Utah Jazz or Denver Nuggets. The Utah Jazz won 50 games last season, and the team added Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic to play with Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. Denver, meanwhile, finished the 2018-19 campaign behind only the Golden State Warriors in the  standings , and 2019-20 MVP candidate Nikola Jokic could be on the cusp of a special and, potentially, historic year. By Jan. 30, Denver guard Jamal Murray could be in the Most Improved Player conversation. 

Remember that we’re only including this on the schedule of games to mark assuming D'Angelo Russell will remain with the Golden State Warriors through mid-February. The Brooklyn Nets were NBA darlings throughout the 2018-19 season, a team that repeatedly punched above its weight thanks largely to Russell, who earned the first All-Star nod of his career. Brooklyn ultimately decided Kyrie Irving was an upgrade at the position, though, and Russell ended up with the Warriors. This will be his first Brooklyn homecoming; maybe.

The Cleveland Cavaliers may own the league’s worst record on March 26. Both Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson could be playing for other teams by then. We still can’t help but get a little excited about the thought of LeBron James playing in Cleveland. After all, James turns 35 years old in December. He doesn’t have many opportunities left in the tank to perform in front of that 2016 championship banner.

Say, for the sake of argument, the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are as good, if not better, than advertised by the start of spring. This game could be so much more than just a postseason preview. As other playoff clubs rest starters to prepare for the grueling tournament, the Bucks and Sixers could be fighting for home-court advantage. Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid may both be eying a couple of awards roughly one week before the regular season ends.

We end with a possible passing-of-the-torch moment. The San Antonio Spurs have qualified for the playoffs in each of the past 22 seasons, but outlets such as FiveThirtyEight believe the team’s historic run could come to an end next April. The Pelicans could be eliminated from postseason contention by the final night of the campaign, but that doesn’t mean Zion Williamson won’t want to produce a show to finish his rookie season. Williamson ending San Antonio’s streak ahead of his 20th birthday would be quite the way to usher in the NBA’s next decade.