The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off their worst season in franchise history, but the 16-time champions are still a big draw, as the NBA’s Wednesday announcement of its 2015-16 regular-season schedule showed.
The Lakers are scheduled for national television slots (ABC, ESPN, TNT) 19 times in 2015-16, not far behind the league maximum of 25; that’s how many national TV games the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are slated to play next season.
The Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder are next in line, with 24 scheduled nationally televised games.
Of course, one of the reasons the Lakers will be must-see TV in 2015-16 is because this could mark Kobe Bryant's final season in the NBA.
The star guard, who turns 37 later this month, will be entering his 20th season with the Lakers, and it’s also his last year under contract with the team, during which he'll be paid a league-high $25 million.
Though he has said he’ll decide after the season whether he’ll play beyond 2015-16, Bryant has also mentioned this coming season could be his last.
With that said, what could be Bryant’s final NBA season begins Oct. 28, when the Lakers host the Minnesota Timberwolves at Staples Center, a matchup of the 2015 draft’s No. 1 overall pick, Karl-Anthony Towns, and No. 2 overall pick, D'Angelo Russell.
The Lakers are expected to miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season -- a franchise first -- and if that happens, Bryant’s final NBA game could fall on April 13, when the Lakers host the Utah Jazz.
The Lakers start their season with a pretty soft slate. Only four of their first 12 games are against teams that made the playoffs last season, and two of those are against the Dallas Mavericks, who lost two key players this offseason (Monta Ellis, Tyson Chandler) and have two others recovering from offseason surgery (Wesley Matthews, Chandler Parsons).
But the Lakers are on the road plenty early. They play twice as many road games (22) in October, November and December as they do games in Los Angeles.
That road-heavy schedule during the first few months is highlighted by a five-game trip from Nov. 6-13 (Brooklyn, New York, Miami, Orlando, Dallas) and a whopping eight-game trip from Dec. 1-12 (Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, Detroit, Toronto, Minnesota, San Antonio, Houston).
That eight-game expedition marks the Lakers’ longest road trip since 2007-08. It’s also much longer than their longest road trip last season, which was a measly five games.
The Lakers’ Grammy road trip -- once considered a marathon -- will last only four games because the awards show is scheduled to take place during the extended All-Star break (Feb. 11-18).
However, the Lakers are home plenty in the new year. They’ll play just five road games in January, compared to 12 at home. In March, they're on the road for three games and back at Staples for 12.
L.A. will also have a 19-day, eight-game homestand from March 3-22.
The Lakers play 18 back-to-back sets all told -- two more than last season -- and have only one stretch of four games in five nights, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, at Portland, vs. Indiana, at Philadelphia and at Washington.
According to ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle, the Lakers will log 45,040 miles this season, the 16th-most miles in the NBA. The Warriors are slated to fly the most (54,006), while the Cavaliers are slated to fly the least (35,444).
Here are some games to watch from the Lakers’ 2015-16 schedule:
• Oct. 28 vs. Minnesota: Season opener, a showdown of top rookies, plus we might see old-timers Bryant and Kevin Garnett facing off once again.
• Nov. 8 at New York: This could be Bryant’s final game at Madison Square Garden, home of some of his biggest performances over the years.
• Dec. 23 vs. Oklahoma City: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook & Co. are worth the price of admission.
• Dec. 25 vs. the Clippers: The Lakers will be home for the holidays in this Christmas Day showdown against their fellow Staples Center tenants.
• Dec. 30 at Boston: This could be Bryant’s final visit to Beantown.
• Jan. 5 vs. Golden State: The reigning champs come to town.
• Feb. 8 at Indiana: It will be very interesting to see what kind of reception Pacers fans give their former center, Roy Hibbert.
• March 10 vs. Cleveland: It’s always a big game when LeBron James is involved.
• March 13 vs. New York: The Knicks and Lakers share plenty of connections (Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher, to name two); they’re also stuck in the depths of rebuilding.
• April 3 vs. Boston: The Lakers’ bitter rival pays a visit to Staples Center.
• April 13 vs. Utah: Season finale, potentially Bryant’s NBA finale, too.