The schedule for the NBA’s restart in Orlando was released on ESPN on Friday evening. The league is set to begin again in Orlando at the end of July and Friday marked one more official step toward that restart.
The Pelicans will feature heavily in the eight-game regular season sprint, most notably by opening up the restart against the Jazz. New Orleans and Utah have had memorable battles this season, including a controversial ending and Brandon Ingram’s best game of his career.
The other seven games for New Orleans will see them meet the Clippers, Grizzlies, Kings, Wizards, Spurs, Magic and Kings again. Four of those games – against Memphis, San Antonio and both games against the Kings – will come against teams also competing for the final playoff spot.
That is one of many observations to take away from the Pelicans schedule.
Only one schedule change
The initial belief was that the schedules would consist of the next eight games against fellow teams entering the bubble on the schedule. Logistically, that created problems for many teams around the league. While some teams, like the Lakers, saw their schedules fairly drastically changed, the Pelicans were the opposite.
Only one game was changed in the Pelicans’ schedule with a second match-up against the Grizzlies swapped for a contest against the Wizards. The match-up does directly impact the playoff chase for New Orleans, offering them one less game they could take off Memphis.
But Washington has the worst record of the 22 teams entering the restart. They also will be without Davis Bertans, arguably their second-best player this season behind superstar Bradley Beal. While it’s actually an easier opponent for the Pelicans, it’s not one against a fellow team competing for the playoffs which could be one less chance to make up ground.
Strength of schedule
The Pelicans were set up for a run at the eighth seed with the easiest strength of schedule to close the season, which made the league coming to a halt and the revised restart relatively frustrating. However, New Orleans will still have the benefit of an easy schedule.
According to ESPN, the Pelicans are the only team in the 22-team restart where their opponents have a combined record under .500. Only their first two games against the Jazz and Clippers will be against teams above .500.
It’s a favorable run-in for the Pelicans, but one that they were scheduled to have anyway. So take off the tin-foil hats. The league isn’t rigging schedules to get Williamson into the playoffs.
National television
Despite most of their games coming against sub-.500 foes, the Pelicans have become a big enough attraction that they are a regular on national television. Three of the team’s games – vs. Los Angeles, Memphis and San Antonio – will appear on ESPN while the first game against Utah and the second game against Sacramento will be on TNT.
In total, five of their eight games will be on national television. And if the Pelicans are able to make it to the play-in games, every game from then on out would almost certainly be on national television as well.
