Team will start season mostly away from MSG

NEW YORK—The Knicks are hitting the road hard during the pandemic.

Twelve of their opening 19 games are away from MSG, including a four-game, six-day Western Conference trip in late January.

As expected given their quiet offseason, the Knicks are again operating outside of the national spotlight. Through the first half of the season, they have just one game scheduled for broadcast on either ESPN, TNT or ABC. The Nets, by contrast, have13 games on those stations.

The NBA’s annual schedule release Friday involved a C OVID -19 twist. In anticipation of games being postponed due to virus out breaks, the league only released the schedule through the beginning of March to leave room for second-half adjustments.

The All-Star game was canceled, but there’s still a five-day break beginning March5.

The Knicks open the season at the Pacers on Dec. 23, then have a two-game homestand against Eastern Conference contenders Philadelphia and Milwaukee.

Eleven of their ensuing 16 games are on the road, with a different hotel at every stop. The NBA announced Friday that 48 of 546 tested players (or roughly nine percent) came back positive for COVID. It was a re-entry test so the players had not yet joined their teammates for camp.

Where does Frank fit?: Frank Ntilikina is on his fourth coach in four years and about his 35th trade rumor.

He’s accustomed to the drama and disruption. The French man was baptized into it. A week after Ntilikina was drafted eighth overall in 2017 by Phil Jackson, the Knicks fired Phil Jackson.