The NBA released its 2011 preseason schedule on Thursday, though it is extremely unlikely that any of the games will take place.
The NBA preseason is scheduled to begin with a five-game slate on October 9, nearly a week later than last year (Oct. 3). The league is currently enduring an owner-instituted work stoppage that appears to have no end in sight.
In 1998, the last time the NBA had a lockout, the preseason was scheduled to begin with an October 12 Miami Heat/Maccabi Tel Aviv game. The game was canceled on September 10, marking the first time any NBA game had ever been canceled due to a labor dispute.
The league canceled an additional four days of preseason games on September 24, before wiping out the entire preseason on October 5.
Should this year’s NBA lockout follow the same timeline as the 1998-99 dispute, the first set of preseason cancellations would take place on September 7, and the entire preseason would be eliminated on October 2.
The preseason schedule includes four nationally televised games: Heat/Grizzlies on October 20 (TNT), Clippers/Lakers on October 27 (TNT), Wizards/Heat on October 28 (ESPN2) and Mavericks/Hornets on October 28 (ESPN2).
(Information from NBA.com)
