LAKERS, CLIPPERS FINALLY GET TO SEE HALF OF A SCHEDULE
The Lakers will open their road to a repeat with four games at Staples
Center, including three against teams that made the playoffs a season ago. The schedule opens with the Clippers on Dec. 22, followed by games against Dallas, Minnesota and
Portland.
The Lakers also will host Golden
State on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Only half of the 72-game schedule was announced Friday because of how the COVID-19 pandemic could affect how and when games are played.
The schedule for the second half of the regular season, which is expected to run from March through late May, won’t be released until late February or early March.
The Lakers have three sizable road trips, including a seven-game trek through the Eastern Conference in late January with stops in Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston and Atlanta.
The Lakers’ first trip includes twogame sets at San Antonio and
Memphis, a new quirk in the pandemic schedule designed to limit travel. Nineteen of the 37 games scheduled so far will be at home. Fifteen will be televised nationally.
LAKERS 2020-21
SCHEDULE (first half)
(all times Pacific; national TV listed)
DECEMBER
22, vs. Clippers, 7 p.m. (TNT); vs.
Dallas, 5 p.m. (ABC); 27, vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. (NBA TV); 28, vs.
Portland, 7 p.m. (NBA TV); 30, at
San Antonio, 5:30 p.m.
JANUARY
1, at San Antonio, 5 p.m. (NBA TV); 3, at Memphis, 3 p.m.; 5, at Memphis, 5 p.m. (NBA TV); 7, vs. San
Antonio, 7 p.m.; 8, vs. Chicago, 7 p.m.; 10, at Houston, 4 p.m.; 12, at
Houston, 5 p.m. (NBA TV); 13, at
Oklahoma City, 5 p.m.; 15, vs. New
Orleans, 7 p.m. (ESPN), 18, vs.
Golden State, 7 p.m. (ESPN); 21, at
Milwaukee, 4:30 p.m. (TNT); 23, at
Chicago, 5 p.m.; 25, at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m.; 27, at Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN); 28, at Detroit, 4 p.m.; 30, at Boston, 5:30 p.m. (ABC).
FEBRUARY
1, at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m.; 4, vs. Denver, 7 p.m. (TNT); 6, vs. Detroit, 7 p.m.; 8, vs. Oklahoma City, 7 p.m.; 10, vs. Oklahoma City, 7 p.m.; 12, vs. Memphis, 7 p.m. (ESPN); 14, at
Denver, 4:30 p.m. (NBA TV); 16, at
Minnesota, 5 p.m.; 18, vs. Brooklyn, 7 p.m. (TNT); 20, vs. Miami, 5:30 p.m. (ABC); 22, vs. Washington, 7 p.m. (NBA TV); 24, at Utah, 7 p.m. (ESPN); 26, vs. Portland, 7 p.m. (ESPN); 28, vs. Golden State, 5 p.m. (ESPN).
MARCH
2, vs. Phoenix, 7 p.m. (TNT); 3, at
Sacramento, 7 p.m..
Clippers schedule
The Clippers will open with road games against the Lakers and
Denver on Christmas before returning for home games against Dallas,
Minnesota and Portland to close
December, with the matchups against the Timberwolves and Trail
Blazers the first of six back-to-back games scheduled within the team’s 38 games of the first half.
The team is scheduled to play each
Sunday for the first 10 weeks. Its longest road trip is a six-game stretch against Atlanta, Miami,
Orlando, New York, Brooklyn and
Cleveland that begins Jan. 26 and wraps Feb. 3.
CLIPPERS 2020-21 SCHEDULE (first half)
DECEMBER
22, at Lakers, 7 p.m. (TNT); 25, at
Denver, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN); 27, vs.
Dallas, 12:30 p.m. (NBA TV); 29, vs.
Minnesota, 7 p.m.; 30, vs. Portland, 7 p.m. (NBA TV).
JANUARY
1, at Utah, 6 p.m.; 3, at Phoenix, 5 p.m.; 5, vs. San Antonio, 7 p.m.; 6, at Golden State, 7 p.m. (ESPN); 8, at Golden State, 7p.m. (ESPN); 10, vs. Chicago, 1 p.m.; 13, vs. New
Orleans, 7 p.m. (ESPN); 15, at
Sacramento, 7 p.m.; 17, vs. Indiana, 7 p.m. (NBA TV), 20, vs. Sacramento, 7 p.m.; 22, vs. Oklahoma
City, 7 p.m.; 24, vs. Oklahoma City, 1 p.m.; 26, at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m.; 28, at Miami, 4 p.m. (TNT); 29, at
Orlando, 4 p.m.; 31, at New York, 2 p.m.
FEBRUARY
2, at at Cleveland, Brooklyn, 4 4:30 p.m.; p.m. vs. Boston, (TNT); 3, 7 p.m. (ESPN), 7, vs. Sacramento, noon; 10, at Minnesota, 5 p.m.; 12, at Chicago, 5 p.m.; 14, vs. Cleveland, 7 p.m. (TNT); 15, vs. Miami, 7 p.m. (NBA TV); 17, vs. Utah, 7 p.m.; 19, vs. Utah, 7 p.m.; 21, vs. Brooklyn, 5 p.m. (ESPN); 23, Washington, 7 p.m.; 25, at Memphis, 5 p.m.; 28, at Milwaukee, 12:30 p.m. (ABC).
MARCH
2, at Boston, 4:30 p.m. (TNT); at
Washington, 4 p.m.