When Does the 2019 NBA Regular Season Start and Key Dates to Remember

As a lifelong basketball enthusiast and sports industry analyst, I've always found the anticipation leading up to the NBA regular season particularly thrilling. The 2019-2020 NBA regular season officially tipped off on October 22, 2019, with a doubleheader that featured the New Orleans Pelicans facing the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Lakers clashing with the LA Clippers. I remember marking my calendar months in advance because these opening games often set the tone for the entire season. The league scheduled exactly 1,230 games across the six-month span, concluding on April 15, 2020, though we all know how that season ultimately unfolded with the pandemic interruption.

While researching this piece, I came across an interesting parallel in the boxing world that got me thinking about how different sports handle their calendars. Sean Gibbons, the MP Promotions president and matchmaker, recently commented about how Casero (13-4, 5 KOs) would serve as a proper test for a former International Boxing Federation super-flyweight title holder moving up in the 122-pound division. This careful matching process reminds me of how the NBA structures its schedule - testing teams gradually through the season rather than throwing them into the deep end immediately. Both sports understand the importance of proper progression and building momentum, though they approach it quite differently.

The NBA's key dates for the 2019 season were strategically spaced to maintain fan engagement throughout. Christmas Day, December 25, 2019, featured five marquee matchups that drew approximately 28 million viewers collectively - these holiday games have become as much a tradition as holiday dinners in many basketball-loving households. I've always believed the NBA schedules these showcase games perfectly to capture both casual and hardcore fans when they have time to actually watch. The All-Star break in mid-February provided that perfect mid-season spectacle in Chicago, with Team Giannis defeating Team LeBron 157-155 in what turned out to be one of the most competitive All-Star games in recent memory.

What many casual fans don't realize is how much strategic planning goes into the NBA schedule. The league office spends nearly a full year crafting these 1,230 games, considering everything from travel logistics to market demand to arena availability. I've spoken with league insiders who've described the scheduling process as something resembling a massive jigsaw puzzle where every piece affects multiple others. They have to balance national television commitments with local market considerations, all while trying to minimize brutal road trips and back-to-back games that could impact player performance.

The trade deadline on February 6, 2020, created one of the most dramatic mid-season shifts I've witnessed in recent years. With several major moves reshaping contenders, teams had about 30 games remaining to integrate new pieces before the playoffs. This timing always strikes me as perfectly calibrated - enough games to establish chemistry but not so many that struggling teams lose hope. The stretch run from March through April featured several incredible playoff races, particularly in the Western Conference where merely 5.5 games separated the 4th through 8th seeds at one point in late March.

Reflecting on that 2019-2020 season opener now, there's a certain nostalgia knowing it was the last completely normal start we'd see for a while. The Lakers-Clippers matchup drew about 4.5 million viewers on TNT, signaling the massive interest in that burgeoning rivalry and the debut of Anthony Davis in purple and gold. Having followed the league for decades, I can usually gauge a season's potential from those first games, and that night definitely felt special. The energy in Staples Center was palpable even through television screens.

The scheduling nuances that casual observers might miss often become talking points among serious fans and analysts. For instance, the NBA carefully placed 12 nationally televised games for the New Orleans Pelicans in the first half of the season to capitalize on Zion Williamson's rookie campaign, though injury concerns ultimately limited his early impact. Meanwhile, established contenders like the Warriors and Raptors saw their national TV appearances adjusted based on early performance - the league maintains flexibility to reshuffle about 15-20% of the national broadcast schedule as the season develops.

As we look back at that 2019-2020 season framework, it's fascinating to consider how the NBA builds narrative arcs through its calendar. The early season establishes identities, the Christmas games provide benchmark moments, the trade deadline reshapes contenders, and the stretch run separates the genuine from the pretenders. Having studied sports scheduling for years, I'm convinced the NBA has perfected this rhythm better than any other league. Their understanding of when to introduce stakes and when to let stories develop naturally creates this beautiful seasonal architecture that keeps fans engaged across the full six-month journey.

The final month of that regular season, from March 15 to April 15, featured several postponed games that would later become significant when the season resumed in the bubble. But the original schedule had built toward what promised to be an incredible finish across both conferences. As someone who's followed the NBA since the 1990s, I can confidently say the 2019-2020 season structure, before pandemic disruptions, represented the pinnacle of the league's scheduling artistry - creating natural peaks and valleys while maintaining consistent engagement. The way they spaced marquee matchups, avoided major sports conflicts, and built toward the playoffs demonstrated decades of refined scheduling philosophy that other sports would do well to study.