The NBA has cut back dramatically on its latest start times.
The NBA has reduced the number of 10:30 PM ET games on ESPN and TNT from 59 last year to 34 in the upcoming 2019-20 regular season, according to the league schedule released Monday. The majority of late windows this season — 36 of 70 — will have 9:30 or 10 PM starts, after only 14 of 73 did last season.
This year marks the first time since the 2002-03 season — the first under the NBA’s deals with Disney and Turner — that the majority of late games have begun prior to 10:30. That year, only 22 of 58 late windows began at 10:30.
The earlier start times are no surprise. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in May that he wanted late games to start earlier to accommodate the Eastern time zone.
As for the rest of the 2019-20 schedule, each of the leaks reported earlier this month proved accurate. The Clippers-Lakers Christmas Day game will air on both ESPN and ABC in primetime, with ABC also airing Bucks-Sixers and Rockets-Warriors in the afternoon. ESPN will bookend the holiday with Celtics-Raptors at Noon and Pelicans-Nuggets at 10:30.
The NBA’s other major holiday, Martin Luther King Day, will feature Pelicans-Grizzlies, Lakers-Celtics and Warriors-Blazers on TNT.
The complete NBA TV schedule is available here.
