The New Orleans Pelicans announced today their regular season schedule as the Pelicans will open the regular season at home in the Smoothie King Center against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, October 23 before heading to the West Coast to match up with Portland (Oct. 25 and 27) and Golden State (Oct. 29 and 30).
The Pelicans will be featured on national television 13 times during the season with ESPN scheduled to broadcast six games – at Oklahoma City (Nov. 13), at Denver (Feb. 5), at Dallas (Feb. 21), vs. Memphis (Mar. 9), at Minnesota (Mar. 19), and at LA Clippers (Apr. 2). TNT will broadcast three Pelicans contests – at Golden State (Oct. 29), at Phoenix (Feb. 27), and vs. LA Clippers (Mar. 11). Finally, NBA TV will televise four Pelicans matchups – at Memphis (Nov. 29), vs. New York (Dec. 21), at Philadelphia (Jan. 10), and at Memphis (Jan. 24).
Nineteen of the Pelicans’ 40 scheduled home games at the Smoothie King Center will be played on a weekend date, with nine of them coming on a Friday.
All home games are scheduled to tip off at 7:00 p.m., with the exception of one Saturday game at 6:00 p.m. (Dec. 7 vs. Oklahoma City), six Sunday night games at 6:00 p.m. (Nov. 3 vs. Atlanta; Dec. 22 vs. Denver; Feb. 23 vs. San Antonio; Mar. 9 vs. Memphis; Mar. 30 vs. Charlotte; Apr. 6 vs. Orlando); two weekday contests tipping off at 8:30 p.m. (Nov. 4 vs. Portland; Mar. 11 vs. LA Clippers); and the Sunday regular-season finale scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (Apr. 13 vs. Oklahoma City).
New Orleans will host their largest homestand of the season from Dec. 21-30, when the team faces New York, Denver, Houston, Memphis, and the LA Clippers. The Pelicans’ longest road trips are three four-game stints in October, February, and March.
The Pelicans are scheduled to play Western Conference opponents four times each (2 home, 2 away), except for the LA Clippers (2 home, 1 away), Los Angeles Lakers (1 home, 2 away), Minnesota (1 home, 2 away), Phoenix (1 home, 2 away), Sacramento (2 home, 1 away) and Utah (2 home, 1 away). New Orleans is scheduled to play Eastern Conference opponents two times each.
Due to the annual Emirates NBA Cup, each team has 80 scheduled contests. During the Knockout Rounds on days when Emirates NBA Cup games are not scheduled (Dec. 12-13 and Dec. 15-16), the 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds will play two regular-season games to reach the 82-game threshold. A formulaic approach will determine the matchups for these 22 games using the Group Play standings in each conference (fifth through 15th). The losing teams from the Quarterfinals in each conference will play each other in a regular-season game on Dec. 12, 13, 15 or 16.