Mark your calendars, Grizzlies fans: 2021-22 NBA schedule released

Mark your calendars. For the first time in two seasons, the Grizzlies are scheduled to play a normal, 82-game schedule.

The Grizzlies start the 2021-22 NBA season on Oct. 20 (7 p.m.) at Fedexforum against the Cleveland Cavaliers. After that, they’ll play their next eight games against teams that reached the playoffs last season

The Grizzlies begin their first road trip with a four-game, West Coast swing that opens against the Los Angeles Clippers (Oct. 23) and Lakers (Oct. 24). Those games will serve as a homecoming for first-round pick Ziaire Williams, who is from the Los Angeles area.

For the annual Martin Luther King Day game, the Grizzlies will host the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 17 (2:30 p.m., TNT)

The Grizzlies will have seven games on either ESPN or TNT, more than the five they had last season. It’s a fitting reward after they made the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

The Grizzlies will have a second TNT date hosting the New Orleans Pelicans on March 8 (6:30 p.m.). Their ESPN games include a road game at the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 27 (9 p.m.), hosting the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 14 (9 p.m.) and the Brooklyn Nets on March 23 (6:30 p.m.)

The Grizzlies will also have nationally

televised dates at the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 26 (6:30 p.m., ESPN) and at the New York Knicks on Feb. 2 (6:30 p.m., ESPN). The Grizzlies-spurs game is a rematch of their meeting in the play-in tournament last season, which Memphis won. The Utah Jazz and Mike Conley will return to Fedexforum on Jan. 28 in their only trip to Memphis. The Grizzlies lost in five games to the Jazz in the first round of the playoffs.

The Grizzlies’ longest road trip will be four games, which occurs three times. Their longest homestand is also four games and they will be from Dec. 8-13, Jan. 11-17 and March 23-28. They also have 14 back-to-back games. Key home games include the Lakers (Dec. 9 and 29), the Golden State Warriors (Jan. 11, March 28), the Brooklyn Nets (March. 23) and the NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks (March 26). The Grizzlies will also host consecutive games against the Denver Nuggets and reigning Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic (Nov. 1, 3).

JOE RONDONE/THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant high fives teammates as they first half expires in their game against the Dallas Mavericks at the Fedexforum on May 11. The complete 2021-22 Memphis schedule is on 2B.