Every NBA team’s schedule has its own little quirk. It is usually something that stands out from the ordinary and a few teams will have to go through them during the season. Sometimes the quirk is so unique that only one squad will be experiencing it.
Let us take a look at teams from the Northwest Division and point out at least one thing “odd” about their schedule.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Rudy Gobert, who used to play for the Utah Jazz, could be in Utah for six days. Here’s how it might happen. After a March 12 game in Los Angeles, the Timberwolves could fly into Salt Lake City and face the Jazz for two games (March 16 and 18) in Vivint Arena. That’s six days for Gobert to roam around his former home city. That will all change, of course, if the team decides to go home first before visiting Utah.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Chet Holmgren is either dreading it or is ready for it. A quick glance at the schedule will make you realize that he will be facing Bol Bol’s Phoenix Suns and Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs in “back-to-back games” twice during the season. Holmgren is seven feet tall and seeing him go against Bol, who is two inches taller, and Wembanyama, who is four inches taller, are going to be giant tasks.
Utah Jazz
Every team will have a tough stretch of road games throughout their season. For the Utah Jazz, it might be during December. They will be playing 13 games, with 10 of them on the road and no consecutive home games. The new In-Season Tournament happens to be in that time frame, too, so that’s an extra two (or three) games for the team.
Denver Nuggets
After the All-Star Break, the Nuggets will enter a 12-day span where they will play in five nationally televised games. With all that TV time, expect players from Denver to visit their favorite barbershop because they will want to look good in front of those cameras. Remember, the NFL will be in offseason mode by that time, so more sports-hungry fans will be tuning in to watch those games.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers have six nationally televised games. Five will be on NBATV while TNT will be showing the other. TNT probably knows something that we don’t because that game they grabbed happens to be a Blazers-Heat game. We all know that Damian Lillard wants to play for Miami and that this game is happening after the trade deadline. Could we see Lillard, who spent 11 years playing for Portland, face his former team?
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