Quick reaction to the LA Clippers’ 2019-2020 schedule

On Monday afternoon, the NBA officially released the 2019-2020 regular season schedule. The LA Clippers didn’t catch many breaks, but they’ll be seen often.

The NBA schedule finally released this afternoon, and the LA Clippers didn’t catch any breaks — at least not for the first half of the season. The Clippers will also have 26 nationally televised games in 2019-2020, a significant hike up from the three they were announced to have when last year’s schedule first dropped.

The first 10 games in particular will be especially difficult, considering superstar forward Paul George may not be available to play any of them. His exact return date is still unknown, so there’s a chance the Clippers will need to rely on the strength of Kawhi Leonard during the early goings of the season.

The LA Clippers will open the 2019-2020 season with a home matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers on October 22, the league’s opening night. Two nights later, on October 24, they’ll play on the road against the Golden State Warriors in their new San Francisco arena. Both games will air on TNT, and both will be played at 7:30 PM PT.

From there, the Clippers will play six of their next eight games at home, with the only road games coming October 26 against the Phoenix Suns and October 30 against the Utah Jazz. The home games, ranging from October 28 to November 11, will be played against the Charlotte Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors. UTA/SAS and MIL/POR are both back-to-backs.

December figures to be a difficult stretch for the Clippers as well, as three of the team’s back-to-backs will be played during the month. LA’s longest road trip of the season will also take place in December, when they play the Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Chicago Bulls from December 6-14. Two of the month’s three back-to-backs occur during the trip.

The difficulty seems to decline after the Clippers enter 2020, with the first half of January looking particularly light. Six of LA’s first seven games in 2020 will be played at home, with the lone exception being a road matchup with the Denver Nuggets. They’ll open the month with a four-game home stretch against the Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors. After playing at Denver, they’ll return home for two games against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic before embarking on their second (and final) six-game road trip of the season.

In February, the Clippers will play just one back-to-back, which will take place on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers. The most difficult matchup of the month figures to be the Clippers’ road game against the Philadelphia 76ers on February 11.

In March, the difficulty ramps back up — the Clippers open the month with games against Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, Houston, Los Angeles, Golden State, Brooklyn and New Orleans. All of those teams could be in the playoff picture by that point in the season, so LA should be tested during that stretch. From there, though, the Clippers may be able to ease up a bit as they prepare to enter the playoffs.

LA will finish the month of March with a four-game Eastern Conference road trip, followed by a home game against the Indiana Pacers.

In April, the Clippers will play seven games against the Sacramento Kings (road), Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz (road), Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trail Blazers (road).

With a healthy Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and supporting cast, the LA Clippers should figure to be a lock for a top-four seed in the Western Conference this year. They may not look like a championship team in the early goings, especially if George isn’t fully recovered, but the Clippers will surely load manage properly and do what it takes to enter the postseason with the best odds possible at winning a title.