Sixers tip off the season against the Bucks at home on Oct. 23 before a slew of early road tests

On the road for two straight following the opener, the Sixers will be away for five of their first eight games. Of their first 31 games, 18 will be played on the road.

Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey passes between Milwaukee's Brook Lopez (left) and Malik Beasley last season. The Sixers will open the season against the Bucks on Oct. 23.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Keith Pompey

Published Aug. 15, 2024, 5:21 p.m. ET

CARROLL, Iowa – The 76ers will begin the 2024-25 NBA season against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center on Oct. 23 in a nationally televised game on ESPN. But they won’t stay there for long.

The Sixers then head on the road for two straight and will be away for five of their first eight games. Of their first 31 games, 18 will be played on the road, with more trips still to be added depending on how far they advance in November and December’s NBA Cup.

The Sixers’ schedule, which was released Thursday, also revealed that they’re slated for 15 sets of back-to-back games, with five each coming in January and March.

Coming off a successful offseason in free agency, the Sixers intend to be a serious contender for the league title. A pretty good idea of their capability of coming out of the Eastern Conference will arrive after their Christmas Day road game against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.

And we’ll get a pretty good idea early on, too.

The Sixers’ season opener will come against a Bucks team that began last season as the Eastern Conference favorite. Milwaukee is healthy after it was hampered by injuries that contributed to it finishing the 2023-24 campaign with a second straight first-round playoff exit. The Bucks also are led by former Sixers coach Doc Rivers, who is 2-0 against Philly since taking the Milwaukee job on Jan. 26.

They’ll head to Toronto for an Oct. 25 matchup against the Raptors. This game will be a homecoming for Sixers coach Nick Nurse and point guard Kyle Lowry, who led Toronto to the 2019 NBA title. Then they’re off to Indiana to face the Pacers on Oct. 27 before a two-game homestand against the Detroit Pistons (Oct. 30) and Memphis Grizzlies (Nov. 2).

From there, they’ll have a three-game West Coast road trip. They’ll face the Suns on Nov. 4 in Phoenix on NBA TV. Two days later, they’ll face the Clippers in Los Angeles on ESPN in what will be Paul George’s first trip back to Los Angeles to face his former team. The Sixers remain in L.A. to face the Lakers on Nov. 8 in another ESPN game.

In all, 27 Sixers games will be nationally televised on ESPN, TNT, ABC, or NBA TV.

Both of the Sixers’ matchups against the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets, featuring the league’s last two MVPs in Joel Embiid and Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, will be nationally televised.

The Sixers will travel to Denver on Jan. 21 on TNT and will host the Nuggets on Jan. 31 (ESPN).

Before then, they’ll open group play in the NBA Cup on Nov. 12 against the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center.

The teams are a part of the Eastern Conference’s Group A, along with the Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, and Charlotte Hornets. Based on last season’s records, all 30 teams were randomly drawn into six groups of five within their conferences. Because of the in-season tourney, the league scheduled only 80 games of the teams’ 82-game schedule. The NBA will announce the remaining games on the week of Dec. 10 following the conclusion of group play in the in-season tourney.

Training camp begins Oct. 1, and the Sixers will train at a remote location for the third straight year. The regular season will conclude on April 13, with the Sixers hosting the Chicago Bulls.

For the third straight season, no games are scheduled for Election Day (Nov. 5). All 30 teams will play on the final day of the regular season. Aiming for competitive fairness, the seven games between Eastern Conference teams will be played at 1 p.m., and seven games between Western Conference teams will be at 3:30 p.m.