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The NBA will release the schedule for the 2015/16 season later this Wednesday but some dates have leaked. The Spurs will face the Thunder in Oklahoma City to open the season, according to The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry. They will play the Rockets in Houston on Christmas day, reports San Antonio Express-News' Buck Harvey.
After being mired by injuries last year, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka will look to start the season with a win, to show they are still a contender. For the Spurs, the new era is starting. LaMarcus Aldridge will wear Silver and Black for the first time on an official game and beating Oklahoma City would be a great start to his career in San Antonio.
The Spurs and Thunder have a budding rivalry. Over the past four playoffs they have met in the conference finals twice, with each team eliminating the other once. Oklahoma City has added some firepower and depth and is ready to return to the postseason while the Spurs have added a star that should keep them relevant for a while. More playoffs matchups are surely in the future, so this will be a nice preview of things to come.
The Spurs will go from Minnesota, where they will play on December 23, to Houston to face the Rockets on Christmas day. The will be on the first game of a back-to-back, traveling to San Antonio for a home game on the 26. The three games in four nights make it possible for Gregg Popovich to decide to rest some of its rotation players for the nationally televised game, but it's impossible to know what will happen at this time.
Wins against Southwest division rivals could be important for playoff seeding, as it happened last year. That gives matchups against teams like the Rockets even more relevance. Aldridge and Leonard are young enough to suit up unless they are injured, so it should be a star-studded affair even if Duncan and Ginobili were to be rested.
The schedule will be released at 5 p.m. CST on Wednesday, August 12.