Los Angeles Lakers 2023-24 NBA schedule: dates and times of all the games and key matchups
The Lakers’ rotation for the season looks better than the previous one. Vincent, Prince, and Hachimura have shown themselves as capable NBA starters.
The 2023-24 NBA season features the inaugural NBA Cup, an in-season tournament for all 30 teams, starting on November 3. The Lakers are in a group with Memphis, Phoenix, Utah, and Portland and will play four games on designated “Tournament Nights.” All games count towards the regular season records, with the team with the best record advancing to the quarterfinals, followed by a single-elimination round, with the final on December 9. The winner gets the NBA Cup and a cash bonus, while the NBA names an MVP and an All-Tournament Team.
22 teams that do not advance to the quarterfinals will play two regular-season games on December 6 and December 8, based on their Group Play standings in each conference. This year’s tournament is a first for the NBA, requiring a Western Conference team to play an Eastern Conference team.
L.A. Lakers’ Austin Reaves is expected to play a crucial role for Team USA before their regular season opener against the Denver Nuggets. His performance skyrocketed after he earned a starting guard position in March last season. LeBron James is in his 21st NBA season, and he completed the best 20th season in NBA history. Anthony Davis had an outstanding postseason, ranking second only to Nikola Jokic. If Davis plays at least 65 games, the Lakers will rank higher in the standings than in previous seasons. The Lakers still have two roster spots to fill and expect a center to get one of those spots before or during the camp. Compared to the previous year, the Lakers have more continuity in their roster this season.
When you look at their general NBA season calendar, they have 15 back-to-back sets of games, a rest disadvantage, and a total of 17 home games on Fridays and Sundays.
Top season matchups
The Lakers players and staff will spend most of their holidays in Los Angeles this year. On Halloween and Thanksgiving, they have a break from games. The team has a six-day trip to Cleveland on November 24, while on Christmas, they have a home game against the Celtics, followed by two full-off days. They don’t have fun on New Year’s Day, but the team plane will land around 1 a.m. after a New Year’s Eve game in New Orleans. On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the team will be home for a game against OKC.
November 10 - Phoenix Suns
On November 10, the Phoenix Suns will face off against the Los Angeles Lakers in an in-season tournament game.
Most teams in the Western Conference focused on re-signing their players, leading to solid continuity throughout the conference. However, Phoenix made a significant move by trading Chris Paul (subsequently moved to GSW), Landry Shamet, four first-round picks swaps, and six future second-rounders to Washington for Bradley Beal. In the 2020-21 season, Beal finished second in the NBA, scoring 31.3 points per game. However, his availability (90 total games in the past two seasons) and production (23 ppg each season) dropped considerably. Nonetheless, Beal’s talent remains, and he will surely be excited about joining a real contender.
With Kevin Durant and Devin Booker leading the way, the Suns have a strong supporting cast with DeAndre Ayton and several new, athletic role players. As a result, they should be a significant threat to the Lakers and other teams throughout the season.
February 8 - Denver Nuggets
The Lakers lost four straight games to Denver in the Western Conference Finals, which they feel they could have won. Although they’ll have a chance to avenge their loss in the season opener, the February matchup will tell more about what might happen in this season’s playoffs. Will Denver match their prior season’s level of energy and consistency now that they’ll be the ones hunted? Will the team suffer from key losses like Bruce Brown and Jeff Green and an injury to Vlatko Čančar without any significant veteran additions? Can Nikola Jokic’s outstanding performance make up for any deficiencies? On the other hand, have the Lakers improved significantly? Will they need to make another trade deadline deal, like last season, to elevate their game?
April 12 - Memphis Grizzlies
L.A.’s first-round opponent, the Grizzlies, has a team that has both talent and question marks. They’ll be without their suspended point guard, Ja Morant, early in the season. Memphis essentially replaced Dillon Brooks with Marcus Smart but also lost their steady backup PG, Tyus Jones. It remains to be seen whether Memphis will be near the top of the standings again or if they’ll take a step back without Morant. However, the impressive play of Jaren Jackson Jr. could potentially steady the team, and he’s one of the few NBA players in the defensive conversation with Davis. By April, we should have the answers to these questions, and playoff seeding could be on the line if both teams play well.