Top 15 Must-See Games from Full 2022-23 NBA Schedule Release

The NBA revealed its full schedule Wednesday, and now it's time to dig in and uncover the best 2022-23 matchups.

As usual, the league loaded up Christmas Day with some of its best and most marketable teams and players. Every year, that slate is appointment viewing for basketball fans, and 2022 is no different.

Opening night typically has some of the best games you can find all season, too. And 2022 has a gem.

But for a sport with a seven-month regular season, the must-see contests aren't confined to just a couple days. From now until the postseason, here are the 15 games you have to see.

National TV: TNT, 7:30 p.m. ET

After an offseason packed with refreshing and retooling, the Philadelphia 76ers will get an early shot to announce themselves as a bona fide contender in the East. In fact, it can't get any earlier than this.

On opening night, Philly will hit the road to take on the 2022 Eastern Conference champs, the Boston Celtics.

And with all the hype surrounding James Harden's focus this summer, Philadelphia should have a chance to make the aforementioned statement.

Harden has averaged at least 10 assists in each of the last two seasons, but he seems to have lost some of the burst he once used to get around on-ball defenders for his own drives.

If he's able to get to the paint and spray out to incoming new shooters like P.J. Tucker, Danuel House Jr. and De'Anthony Melton, against a defense as stout as Boston's, we can probably trust that the offseason work paid off.

Of course, regardless of what Harden looks like, Philadelphia will still revolve around Joel Embiid. And if he can kick off his 2022-23 with a dominant national TV performance against Al Horford and Robert Williams III, he'll garner some early narrative points after finishing second in MVP voting in each of the last two seasons.

For Boston, there really isn't anything to prove on opening night, but the Sixers should be among their stiffest competition to emerge from the East. And that kind of test can expose flaws you might need some time to fix.

National TV: ESPN, 10:00 p.m. ET

The Phoenix Suns won a whopping 64 games last season. Devin Booker and Chris Paul both made All-NBA teams. Booker was First Team and finished fourth in MVP voting. Before the playoffs started, they had the shortest odds to win the title.

Then, after winning the first two games of their Western Conference Semifinal against the Dallas Mavericks, they proceeded to get walloped over the remaining five games of the series. In Games 6 and 7 alone, Dallas outscored Phoenix by a combined 60 points.

Months later, the upset inspired a number of callbacks to pro-Suns takes that surely must be eating at the organization, or at the very least, its fans.

Phoenix will get its first shot at revenge one night after the season opens. And with the exception of Jalen Brunson (who's now a New York Knick), most of the key players from that series are back.

If Luka Doncic and Dallas' shooters are still able to spread the Suns out, play Deandre Ayton off the floor and overwhelm the defense with a barrage of threes, early-season opinions on Phoenix won't be kind.

If they look more mobile and able to counter the Mavs' five-out attack (or Dallas looks overly reliant on big lineups with Christian Wood and JaVale McGee), it'll be easier to bump the Suns back to the title contenders tier.

National TV: N/A (8:00 p.m. ET)

The appeal for this one couldn't be more obvious.

Donovan Mitchell's arrival and the high-scoring totals that came with it garnered more attention, but Rudy Gobert has always been the foundation of the Utah Jazz's success.

Over the last five seasons (the length of Mitchell's career), Gobert is 14th in the league in wins over replacement player. Mitchell is 28th.

Over the same span, the team was plus-11.0 points per 100 possessions when Gobert played without Mitchell, compared to nearly an even 0.0 when Mitchell played without Gobert.

And despite those numbers and the dominance that led Gobert to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards, Utah ostensibly picked Mitchell over him (though there's still a chance the guard gets traded as part of a full rebuild this summer).

Whether Mitchell is on the Jazz or not, Gobert will get his first crack at a revenge game early in the season. And no matter who's on Utah's roster, it's hard to imagine the Timberwolves, who also boast Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell won't be heavily favored.

National TV: ESPN, 10:00 p.m. ET

Regardless of where the Los Angeles Lakers stand—and after the last two seasons, who knows where that is?—the crosstown rivalry games between them and the Los Angeles Clippers will always carry at least a hint of intrigue.

This one brings more, though. If healthy, the Clippers have the more talented and playoff-ready roster by far.

The Clippers are getting Kawhi Leonard back after he missed all of the 2021-22 season to recover from a partially torn ACL. Hopefully Paul George will be able to play more than the 44.3 games per season he's averaged in his three seasons with the Clips. John Wall is now on the roster to provide some playmaking. And depth at every position makes the Clippers legitimate title contenders.

The Lakers have a little more stability after LeBron James agreed to an extension on Wednesday, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, but they're still far from being on solid footing. The fit between James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook was wonky last season. If all three are still on the roster by Nov. 9, this game will be worth watching just to see if they've ironed some of those wrinkles out.

If the Lakers have jettisoned Westbrook (or Davis?) by this point, there might be even more to learn about LeBron's team.

National TV: NBA TV, 8:00 p.m. ET

Before the official schedule release Wednesday, the early-season game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Brooklyn Nets leaked. It's easy to see why that one would be intriguing.

Both Zion Williamson and Ben Simmons missed all of last season. When they're healthy, they're two of the most dynamic and entertaining players in the league.

However, without knowing how the Nets will resolve the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving situations, it's tough to have much faith in their watchability. Meanwhile, Zion's return campaign should be must-see TV, especially with the addition of CJ McCollum to his team.

On November 25, he'll be in a national showcase on NBA TV against Ja Morant (taken one pick behind him in the 2019 draft) and the already established Memphis Grizzlies.

A win for the Pelicans in Memphis would do a lot for their own bona fides, along with some fuel to the debate over the best player drafted in 2019.

National TV: ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

NBA Finals rematches are always fun, and we get the first of two on Dec. 10 in the bay.

Both teams will look a little different (with Boston bringing Brogdon to the party and Golden State presumably leaning a bit more on the young core), but the most important pieces remain in place.

That means Stephen Curry, who boldly pointed to his ring finger during the third quarter of a seemingly undecided Game 6, will be around to provide some fireworks. With a full, healthy offseason, Klay Thompson should be free of most of the rust that slowed him at times last season. Jordan Poole will be in the middle of a contract year that could earn him a lot of money. And defensive aces Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins will get another chance to prove their mettle against Boston's largely positionless lineups.

The Celtics have plenty to prove against that defense, too. In the six-game Finals, they committed 18 more turnovers than the notoriously loose-with-the-ball Warriors. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had 43 giveaways just between the two of them.

The addition of Brogdon may help on the ball-handling front, but Boston surely wants to be able to trust its two best players as playmakers. Taking care of the ball in a midseason win over the team that beat them in the Finals would be a good sign.

National TV: N/A (8:30 p.m. ET)

The revenge angle on this one is a little different than that of the Jazz-Timberwolves matchup. In that case, the team ditched the star. Here, Jalen Brunson chose to leave the team with which he went to the Western Conference Finals for the perennially disappointing (at least before Brunson arrived) New York Knicks.

And the fans in Dallas will get their first up-close look at Brunson in the Knicks' orange and blue just after Christmas.

Assuming New York doesn't land Donovan Mitchell to pair with Brunson (not a given, at this point), it's hard to imagine the Knicks overcoming Luka Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie, Christian Wood and all the revenge-game energy that could come with this one.

Of course, there is some precedent for Brunson rising to the occasion in games he wasn't supposed to win. In the first three games of the 2022 postseason, when Doncic was out because of injury, Brunson averaged 32.0 points and 5.3 assists, while the Mavs went 2-1 against the Jazz.

National TV: TNT, 3:30 p.m. ET

The Atlanta Hawks made one of this summer's most daring all-in moves when they acquired Dejounte Murray for Danilo Gallinari (whom the San Antonio Spurs later bought out) and multiple future first-round picks.

The trade sets off one of the most interesting basketball experiments in recent memory.

When you combine usage percentage and assist percentage, Murray and Trae Young were fourth and second in the NBA last season, respectively. Can both players' passing ability overcome their need to also have the ball in their hands? Can Murray's on-ball defense cover up some of Trae's deficiencies there? Will a few more off-ball opportunities boost Trae's scoring efficiency?

If the answer to all of the above is yes, the Hawks could be one of the best teams in the East. By January, they should've had enough time to make the necessary adjustments to answer those questions affirmatively.

At that point, a test against the Miami Heat, who were in the NBA Finals in 2019-20 and the Eastern Conference Finals last season, could reveal a lot.

National TV: ABC, 3:00 p.m. ET

Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid have finished first and second, respectively, in MVP voting in each of the last two seasons. Embiid's comments following the second loss suggested that he desperately wants to win one.

Although he said he's moving on from campaigning for that award, matchups with his chief individual rival will be important. We'll get our first national showcase matchup between the two on January 28 on ABC.

To date, Embiid is 4-2 against Jokic, but the two-time MVP has arguably been the better player in those matchups. They've had comparable scoring and rebounding numbers, while Jokic has shot more efficiently and handed out more than twice as many assists.

If both teams stay healthy, they should be clear title contenders by this point in the season. While the results of a single regular-season matchup won't sway much in that regard, it could swing momentum in the MVP race.

National TV: ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

The Milwaukee Bucks very well might have made the 2022 NBA Finals had Khris Middleton not gotten injured prior to their second-round series against the Boston Celtics. Had the 2021 champs made it that far, they would've faced the Golden State Warriors.

Between those two teams, we might have the two most entertaining players in the NBA.

Both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry will be on quests to add to their respective legacies in 2022-23. If both teams stay healthy, they should be among the title front-runners by mid-March.

This national TV gem figures to be one of the season's more hyped and entertaining matchups.

Full Schedule

• Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks: Noon ET
• Los Angeles Lakers vs. Dallas Mavericks: 2:30 p.m. ET 
• Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics: 5:00 p.m. ET
• Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors: 8:00 p.m. ET
• Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets: 10:30 p.m ET

As previously mentioned, the Christmas slate is loaded this season.

Two of the best teams in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics will get another shot at each other after Boston eliminated Giannis Antetokounmpo in the conference semifinals.

The New York Knicks will get a chance to test their Jalen Brunson-piloted offense against the Philadelphia 76ers, who figure to be one of the top teams in the conference.

The hopefully healthy Denver Nuggets, led by a two-time reigning MVP, get a national TV showcase to potentially announce their arrival against last season's top regular season team, the Phoenix Suns.

LeBron James and Luka Doncic will face off for the ninth time. With Luka currently 2-6 against the all-timer, a win could feel like a changing of the guard.

And after Ja Morant tweeted earlier this summer about wanting a Western Conference Semifinal rematch against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas, it looks like he'll get at least half of his wish.

As Draymond Green predicted in a response to Morant, the game will be in San Francisco.

Regardless of location, it figures to feature the same "little brother vs. big brother" energy that made their postseason series so entertaining.