This summer, hour-long primetime NBA specials are apparently en vogue.
The NBA will unveil its Opening Week, Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Day schedules during an hour-long TV special on NBA TV Tuesday night, marking “the first time the league has released portions of it early.”
The league appears to be following the lead of the NFL. Typically, the NFL releases portions of its Week 1 schedule and its Thanksgiving Day slate prior to the release of the full schedule.
Additionally, NFL Network aired a primetime special on the release of the 2010 NFL schedule.
Christmas Day is the highest profile day of the NBA’s regular season, usually featuring the league’s best matchups. In each of the past two seasons, the league has scheduled five games for the holiday, with ESPN airing a game at Noon ET, ABC airing games at 2:30 and 5:00 PM, and either ESPN (2009) or TNT (2008) airing a primetime doubleheader at 8:00 and 10:30 PM.
Similarly, Martin Luther King Day features a day-long slate of games, typically culminating with a tripleheader on TNT (5:30, 8:00 and 10:30 PM ET). Last year’s MLK Day line-up included an NBA Finals rematch (Magic/Lakers), while the previous year featured Kobe Bryant facing LeBron James (Cavaliers/Lakers).
The full 2009-10 NBA schedule will be released the following Tuesday (August 10).
