3 Portland Trail Blazers schedule details that jump off the page right away

The Portland Trail Blazers start next season at home in the Moda Center against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, October 23. The Blazers' 2024-25 schedule is pretty standard, but there are still a few noticeable takeaways from it at first glance.

1. The Blazers' lack of national TV games

Counting ESPN, TNT, ABC & NBA TV games, the Blazers have four nationally televised games on tap for 2024-25. The four games are (all times Pacific):

Dec. 26: Jazz at Blazers, 7:00 p.m., NBA TV

Jan. 28: Bucks at Blazers, 7:00 p.m., TNT

Mar. 2: Blazers at Cavaliers,12:30 p.m., NBA TV

Mar. 30: Blazers at Knicks, 3:00 p.m., NBA TV

That's tied for the least amount in the league with the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors.

2. Damian Lillard's return

Not including NBA TV, which many fans don't have, the Blazers have a whopping one nationally televised game, Damian Lillard's anticipated return to Portland. It's understandable and unsurprising for a team that won 21 games last season and is actively trying to lose games to secure a better draft pick in 2025. But it's notable nonetheless, especially considering six teams—the Lakers, Warriors, Celtics, Knicks, Mavericks, and Suns—have at least 30 nationally televised games on their schedule.

The excellent news for Rip City fans is that the Blazers are ending their contract with ROOT Sports a year early and switching to an over-the-air network, which should make games much more accessible.

3. The difficult start to the season

It was going to be tough for the Blazers to get off to a quick start in the 2024-25 season regardless, but the schedule makes life that much harder for Portland at the beginning of the season; 27 of their first 29 games to kick off the season are against teams in the loaded Western Conference. The matchups following that? The 76ers, Lakers, and Bucks. At that point, the Blazers will already be into the new year and could have less than ten wins realistically.

Typically, the younger players get increased roles and opportunities once a team is close to being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at the end of the season. However, the demanding schedule could lead to the Blazers turning to their up-and-coming players earlier than anticipated if things go south quickly. It could also play a role in the Blazers moving established pieces at the trade deadline.