One year after establishing themselves as the NBA’s marquee team, the Warriors with their 2016-17 schedule are again poised to attract more eyeballs than any squad in the league.
The Western Conference champions open against the Spurs on Oct. 25 at Oracle Arena before playing four of the next five on the road.
The schedule-maker wasted no time pitting the newest Warriors All-Star, Kevin Durant, against his former team, as the Thunder visit Oracle Arena on Nov. 3, the fourth game of the season.
Durant won’t make his first visit to Oklahoma City until Feb. 11, five days before the All-Star break.
The Warriors will play on Christmas Day for the fourth consecutive season – and sixth of the last seven – when they travel to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers in a rematch of the 2016 NBA Finals. The Cavs visit Oracle on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 16, 2017).
The Warriors are scheduled for 28 national TV games, including four of the first six to start the season.
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The Dallas Mavericks, featuring former Warriors Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut, make their first visit to Oracle Arena on Nov. 9.
Former assistant coach (and successful interim head coach) Luke Walton brings his Lakers to Oracle on Nov. 23, the second of three Warriors-Lakers clashes in November.
The Warriors don’t visit San Antonio until March, when they will face the Spurs on the 11th and the 29th.
The Warriors face 17 back-to-back challenges, including the first visit to Oklahoma City, which comes after a game at Memphis the previous night.
They face one stretch of four games in five nights, which comes as part of a five-game Western Conference road swing Dec. 7-11.
For the first time since 2007-08, the Warriors will not have a road trip longer than five games, of which there are two.
The Warriors conclude the season with 11 of their final 16 games at home.
