Thursday, the NBA released the full schedule of 30 teams for the 2024-25 season. This means Milwaukee Bucks Fans can now see when and where the team will play all 80 currently scheduled games and try to look for patterns or trends that might emerge.
Two games will be determined based on the results of the NBA Cup, but each schedule always includes certain stretches that will be more or less difficult, as well as notable games and events. With the full schedule released, here are three takeaways from the games that have been set two months before the Bucks kick off their opening night game on October 23.
No Christmas game
Since the NBA began scheduling five games on Christmas and broadcasting them nationally in 2008, the league has used the day to showcase its best players and teams. Over the past six seasons, Giannis Antetokounmpo The Bucks, who topped the Eastern Conference standings, played on Christmas. That’s not the case in 2024-25.
After The AthleticShams Charania of has revealed the news of this season’s Christmas programming Last week, the Bucks’ two-time NBA MVP shared his thoughts on X.
No Christmas game?! 😂😂
– Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) August 9, 2024
It’s pretty remarkable that the Bucks weren’t selected to play on Christmas. Antetokounmpo is the only player to finish in the top five of NBA MVP voting in each of the last six seasons. The eight-time All-NBA forward finished last season with the fifth most popular jersey, according to the NBAand he will be the only player in last season’s top five shirt sales not to play at Christmas, with Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Jayson Tatum And Victor Wembanyama all on the field on December 25.
In his exclusive off-season interview with The AthleticBucks general manager Jon Horst has made it clear that he believes the Bucks are still the class of the Eastern Conference, but with the Boston Celtics, The New York Knicks And The Philadelphia 76ers scheduled to play on Christmas and the Bucks being sidelined, it appears the Bucks could enter the season with something to prove.
Showdowns against the best in the East
Speaking of these three teams…
The top of the East has strengthened this summer. Last season, the game schedule centered around games against the Celtics, but now it’s worth considering the series of games against the other three teams considered the top contenders in the East.
The Celtics, as well as the Miami Heathave been the Bucks’ strongest and most consistent competitors over the past six seasons, as Antetokounmpo has become a perennial MVP candidate and the Bucks have become a perennial title contender. After struggling to put together a special postseason, the Celtics finally capitalized on their regular-season success and won an NBA championship in June.
With nearly their entire roster back, the Celtics will enter the season as favorites to win the 2024-25 championship, so each of their three games against the Bucks will be considered a benchmark game for Milwaukee. All of those games will take place before the switch to 2025:
- Monday, October 28: Bucks vs. Celtics, 6:30 p.m. CT
- Sunday, November 10: Celtics vs. Bucks, 2:30 p.m. CT
- Friday, December 6: Bucks vs. Celtics, 6:30 p.m. CT
Offseason trades by the Knicks and 76ers have added two new teams to the discussion for the best team in the East.
Addition Paul George to the duo of Joel Embid and Tyrese Maxey The Bucks were thus able to count on a trio capable of competing with the best teams in the league and placed them on the list of potential contenders to represent the East in the NBA Finals. After the season opener on October 23 in Philadelphia, the Bucks will face the 76ers three more times:
- Sunday, January 19: 76ers vs. Bucks, 6:00 p.m. CT
- Sunday, February 9: 76ers vs. Bucks, 1:00 p.m. CT
- Thursday, April 3: Bucks vs. 76ers, 6:30 p.m. CT
Last season, for the first time since 2013, the Knicks won 50 games and added Mikal Bridges to further strengthen their roster. New York lost its center Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency at the Oklahoma City ThunderBut the Knicks’ bevy of versatile wings should make them a tough team to play against. Here are their three matchups against the Bucks:
- Friday, November 8: Bucks vs. Knicks, 6:30 p.m. CT
- Sunday, January 12: Bucks vs. Knicks, 2:00 p.m. CT
- Friday, March 28: Knicks vs. Bucks, 6:30 p.m. CT
These 10 games will be among the most important of the regular season for the Bucks, as the team tries to figure out how it stacks up against the other top teams in the conference and see what might be a problem for it in the playoffs. It’s worth noting that two of those 10 games are back-to-backs — Oct. 28 in Boston, Nov. 8 in New York — and six of their 10 meetings against those three teams are on the road.
While these three teams will garner the majority of attention from Bucks fans, Indiana Pacers The Bucks eliminated the Bucks from the playoffs last season in six games and won four of five regular-season games, including the semifinals of the season tournament. The Bucks will get a chance to get some revenge for the first time in Milwaukee on Nov. 22, then face their Central Division rivals in Indianapolis on Dec. 31 and March 11. The regular-season series concludes in Milwaukee on March 15.
GO FURTHER
NBA Schedule: 35 Games I’m Looking Forward To in 2024-25
Potentially problematic areas
Before a November home stretch, the Bucks will play six of their first nine games on the road, including against the Celtics, Sixers and Knicks. The Bucks will be tested early and often this season before settling into a stretch against easier teams, mostly at home, in mid-November. It’s just one of three parts of the Bucks’ schedule that could prove difficult to handle.
One of the toughest stretches of each season is the stretch between midseason (Game 41) and the All-Star break, which happens to be the Bucks’ 54th game of the season. This season, nine of those 13 Bucks games will be away from home. Additionally, all four home games will be part of a back-to-back, meaning it’s quite possible the Bucks will spend only seven of the 22 days leading up to the All-Star break sleeping in their own beds.
The final leg of the season will be the Bucks’ longest road trip, a five-game trip out West toward the end of March. Beginning March 18 in Los Angeles, the Bucks will face the LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns And Denver Nuggets in 10 days. Before embarking on that trip, the Bucks must face seven teams from last season’s playoffs, which will make for a difficult March.
(Photo by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard((Benny Sieu / USA Today)
