Things To Look Out For in the Full 2019-2020 Golden State Warriors Schedule

Monday, Aug. 12 saw the release of the full Warriors schedule for the 2019-2020 NBA season. Here are some of the major points of interest from the schedule.

A familiar foe over and over in the preseason

Recent Warriors preseasons have featured, among other things, trips to China and games at SAP Center in San Jose. This season, their exhibition games are far more pedestrian and less dynamic. The preseason schedule consists of three games at Chase Center and two at Staples Center. Furthermore, four of the five games are against a single team—the Los Angeles Lakers.

They don’t play on NBA Opening Night

Every NBA Opening Night from 2015 to 2018 has featured the Warriors playing, but this year bucks the trend. They instead play their first game on Thursday, Oct. 24, which will be the third day of the 2019-2020 regular season. In that game, they will take on the new-look Los Angeles Clippers, who added star forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the offseason. In addition to being the Chase Center’s regular season debut, the game will serve as the first test for the Dubs as they see how their new roster stacks up against what is anticipated to be one of the Western Conference’s best teams.

Another Christmas game—with a notable player absent

For the seventh straight year, the Warriors will feature among the NBA’s slate of Christmas games. For the first time since 2014, it won’t be against LeBron James. Instead, they take on James Harden and the Houston Rockets, who head to the Bay for the first time since trading for Russell Westbrook. Like many of the Warriors’ past Christmas opponents, the Rockets have a history with Golden State. The Warriors have eliminated them from the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, most recently in the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals.

We’ll have to wait a while for a Finals rematch

In most years, any game between the two teams that met in the previous season’s NBA Finals is cause for major attention and a prime date on the calendar. This year, thanks in large part to the departures and absences of several key players, that won’t be happening with the Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. Their first head-to-head since the Raptors’ Finals victory doesn’t come until March 5, 2020. TNT will televise the game.

Mark the calendar for reunion dates

The Warriors had to say goodbye to a number of players this past offseason as part of a major roster overhaul. This means plenty of games in which they will welcome old friends back to Warriors Ground. The most notable, of course, is Andre Iguodala’s return with the rest of the Memphis Grizzlies (assuming he stays with the team). It will occur on December 9 in a game with a 7:30 tip-off that is sure to include a video tribute and a massive ovation from the Chase Center crowd. In other returns, DeMarcus Cousins and Quinn Cook will pay their first regular season visit to Dub Nation as members of the Lakers on February 8 of 2020 and Jordan Bell’s Minnesota Timberwolves first play in the Bay Area in the regular season on December 23.

Back to backs continue to drop

The NBA is making a concerted effort to lower the number of back to backs each team plays, and these efforts are apparent in the Warriors schedule. They will play 11 back to backs during the season, a drop-off from the 13 played last season and an even greater decline from the 14 and 17 played in 2017-2018 and 2016-2017 respectively. The less grinding schedule is good for all players, but it has the potential to benefit the Warriors in particular, who are relying immensely on the health of three specific players—Stephen Curry, D’Angelo Russell and Draymond Green—for success.

End of season road games could determine playoff status

It’s possible that the Warriors will end up in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race towards the end of the season, meaning they would use the last few weeks of the regular season to determine where they fall in the conference. If this comes to fruition, they will need to have road success to improve their standing. They play 5 of their last 7 and 10 of their last 16 regular season games away from home. Recent Warrior teams have posted strong road records, but it will be interesting to see if the new team can continue the trend to help post a high playoff seed (or perhaps make the playoffs at all).

National television still shows love

Even though the Warriors saw several big names depart in the offseason and will miss another for all or most of this season due to injury, the networks believe that they are still a major draw across the country. They will appear on national TV 42 times if you include games on NBA TV and 30 times if you don’t, both of which trail only the Lakers for the most such appearances in the league. The continued presence of the Warriors on national TV shows that even in what is projected to be a down year for them, their recent success and their big names make them one of the league’s most fascinating teams to watch.