Now that the dust has pretty much settled from the start of free agency, and short of any surprise trades that come out of nowhere, the league hierarchy seems pretty much set (though open for debate), so wondering who everyone sees as the marquee matchups going into next season for the Opening Night and Christmas Day games.
It's common to get two of the top teams in each conference squaring off on opening night, but the West is wide open.
It's also common to get a Finals rematch on Christmas or at least some kind of East vs West matchup, and usually it will be the teams first meeting of the season, but all that goes out the window with how everything has shaken out so far.
This is my guess:
Opening Night
Bucks/Sixers
Lakers/Clippers
Christmas Day
Nets/Celtics - 12pm
Bucks/Sixers - 3pm
Lakers/Clippers - 5:30pm
Rockets/Warriors - 8:00pm
Blazers/Nuggets - 10:30pm
It would be kind of weird to have the same Opening Night games as the prime Christmas Day games, but with David Stern once saying his ideal Finals for ratings would be Lakers vs Lakers, there's no way the NBA isn't going to bleed the Lakers/Clippers well dry, and the East just doesn't have any other top matchups to throw out there (and also the NBA just did BOS/PHI on both opening night and prime time Christmas this last season).
Who ya'll got?