The Sixers now know all the details of the work ahead this regular season.
Let's run through seven takeaways on their 2024-25 schedule:
1. For a second straight year, the Sixers’ first two opponents will be the Bucks and Raptors. The only difference is the Milwaukee game is at home.
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That will be the Sixers’ first time starting a season with fans in attendance at home since they beat the Celtics on Oct. 23, 2019 in a contest started by Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Al Horford and Joel Embiid. The Sixers opened the 2020-21 season at Wells Fargo Center as well, but no fans were in the building because of COVID-19.
2. The 15 back-to-backs on the schedule are the Sixers’ most since the 2016-17 season.
It’s not exactly a dramatic increase, though. The Sixers had 14 back-to-backs last season and went 7-7 with zero days of rest.
3. In the rest department, the stretch from Nov. 24 to Dec. 3 stands out as especially favorable.
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After playing the Clippers on Nov. 24 in Philadelphia, the Sixers will have two days of rest before three consecutive games — vs. the Rockets, at the Pistons, at the Hornets. That might be a nice period for a player(s) to take things cautiously with any minor injuries and only miss a few games.
4. The Sixers will begin a season-long six-game road trip by visiting the Celtics on Christmas. They also have a six-game trip in March.
While the trip through the holidays starts with a serious challenge, the Sixers shouldn’t flounder. The trip includes the Jazz, Trail Blazers and Nets, who were all outside the playoff (and play-in) picture last year.
5. Sixers at Clippers on Nov. 6 will be full of familiar faces as Paul George will return to Los Angeles and see several former Sixers in James Harden, Nicolas Batum, PJ Tucker and Mo Bamba.
Here are other reunion games on the Sixers’ calendar:
- Oct. 30 vs. the Pistons’ Harris and Paul Reed
- Nov. 12 vs. the Knicks’ Cameron Payne (and Villanova products Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo)
- Nov. 18 at Miami, where Caleb Martin played the past three years
- Dec. 8 at Chicago, where Andre Drummond played the past two years
- Jan. 2 at the Warriors, who added De’Anthony Melton and Buddy Hield this summer
6. Between Feb. 11 and March 3, the furthest the Sixers will be from home is New York.
Ahead of the All-Star break, their final two games are Feb. 11 vs. Toronto and Feb. 12 at Brooklyn. Five of their six games directly after the break are at home … and the one road game is against the Knicks.
7. Though it wasn’t quite enough to avoid the play-in tournament, the Sixers finished last regular season on an eight-game winning streak and capitalized on a relatively soft end-of-year schedule.
Could they do something similar at the tail end of this season? The team’s road finale is April 9 against the Wizards, who went 15-67 last season. The Sixers will then wrap up their 2024-25 regular season by hosting two sub-.500 teams last year in the Hawks and Bulls.