The Clippers will open the Intuit Dome against the Kevin Durant-led Phoenix Suns on Oct. 23 in their first regular-season game at their new high-tech arena in Inglewood, the team announced Thursday as all NBA schedules were released.
Suns stars Devin Booker and Durant, fresh off their gold-medal performances in the Paris Olympics, will be on hand as the Clippers kick off their new era, complete with new logos and a new home. The Clippers have shared Crypto.com Arena, formerly known as Staples Center, for the past 25 years with the Lakers and the NHL’s L.A. Kings, where they had to play their games around the Lakers’ and Kings’ schedules.
Now, as the lone tenant in the $2 billion Intuit Dome built by owner Steve Ballmer, the Clippers have the freedom to set their own schedule. First up was eliminating Saturday matinee games. All seven of the Clippers’ Saturday home games will be at 7:30 p.m. In addition, none of their Sunday home games start earlier than 6 p.m.
After their season opener, the Clippers go on the road for back-to-back games – their first of more than a dozen back-to-back contests this season – against the Denver Nuggets (Oct. 26) and Golden State Warriors (Oct. 27) before starting a five-game homestand, highlighted by the return of Paul George on Nov. 6.
George, who spent five seasons with the Clippers, signed a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers in the offseason. George said he would have taken the same three-year, $150 million deal that fellow All-Star Kawhi Leonard signed in an extension in January but he wanted a no-trade clause attached to it as well. The Clippers opted to let George walk after he and Leonard never fulfilled the organization’s championship expectations, largely because of injuries.
The Clippers will face off against George again when they head to Philadelphia on Nov. 24 and then head to Boston to square off against the defending NBA champion Celtics on Nov. 25. Former Clipper Russell Westbrook and his Nuggets teammates visit the Intuit Dome on Dec. 1.
The Clippers will host the Lakers at the Intuit Dome on Jan. 19 and Feb. 4 and play their former arena-mates at Crypto.com on Feb. 28 and March 2.
Other marquee matchups at Intuit Dome include the reigning Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks on April 4 and April 5 and the Celtics on Jan. 22. The Mavericks eliminated the Clippers in the first round of last season’s playoffs.
The schedule includes 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, one more than the past two seasons.
The Clippers’ longest stretch of road games is a seven-game slate immediately following the All-Star break, but two of those games are in town against the Lakers.
The Clippers’ schedule shows just 80 of their 82 games with the other two games determined by their play in the in-season tournament. Those dates will either be part of the tournament’s knockout round or be scheduled against two opponents who also failed to advance.
The Clippers open this season’s NBA Cup tournament on Friday, Nov. 15 at the Houston Rockets, the first of four games they will play in the early stages in the second annual in-season tournament.
They follow that with a Friday, Nov. 22 home game against Sacramento. The Clippers travel to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, Nov. 29, then they close out the Group Play portion of the competition with a home game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
The Clippers will play two additional preseason games at home on Oct. 14 against Dallas and the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 17. The team previously announced they will play preseason games in Oceanside (Oct. 8) against the Brooklyn Nets and Seattle (Oct. 11) against the Portland Trail Blazers.
CLIPPERS 2024-25 SCHEDULE
All times Pacific
OCTOBER
Oct. 23 – vs. Phoenix, 7 p.m.
Oct. 26 – at Denver, 2 p.m.
Oct. 27 – at Golden State, 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 30 – vs. Portland, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 31 – vs. Phoenix, 7:30 p.m.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 2 – vs. Oklahoma City, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 4 – vs. San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 6 – vs. Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Nov. 8 – at Sacramento, 7 p.m.
Nov. 9 – vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 11 – at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m.
Nov. 13 – at Houston, 5 p.m.
Nov. 15 – at Houston*, 5 p.m.
Nov. 17 – vs. Utah, 6 p.m.
Nov. 18 – vs. Golden State, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 20 – vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 22 – vs. Sacramento*, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 24 – at Philadelphia, 3 p.m.
Nov. 25 – at Boston, 4:30 p.m.
Nov. 27 – at Washington, 4 p.m.
Nov. 29 – at Minnesota*, 4:30 p.m.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1 – vs. Denver, 7 p.m.
Dec. 3 – vs. Portland*, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 4 – vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 8 – vs. Houston, 6 p.m.
Dec. 10, 11, 14, 17 – Potential NBA Cup knockout rounds
Dec. 12-13 and 15-16 – Regular-season games TBA (pending NBA Cup results)
Dec. 19 – at Dallas, 5:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 – at Dallas, 5:30 p.m.
Dec. 23 – at Memphis, 5 p.m.
Dec. 27 – vs. Golden State, 7 p.m.
Dec. 30 – at New Orleans, 5 p.m.
Dec. 31 – at San Antonio, 4 p.m.
JANUARY
Jan. 2 – at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m.
Jan. 4 – vs. Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 6 – at Minnesota, 5 p.m.
Jan. 8 – at Denver, 6 p.m.
Jan. 11 – vs. Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 13 – vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 15 – vs. Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 16 – at Portland, 7 p.m.
Jan. 19 – vs. Lakers, 6 p.m.
Jan. 21 – vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 22 – vs. Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 25 – vs. Milwaukee, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 27 – at Phoenix, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 29 – at San Antonio, 5 p.m.
Jan. 31 – at Charlotte, 4 p.m.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 2 – at Toronto, 12:30 p.m.
Feb. 4 – vs. Lakers, 7 p.m.
Feb. 6 – vs. Indiana, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 8 – vs. Utah, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 12 – vs. Memphis, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 16 – NBA All-Star Game (at Golden State)
Feb. 20 – at Milwaukee, 5 p.m.
Feb. 23 – at Indiana, 2 p.m.
Feb. 24 – at Detroit, 4 p.m.
Feb. 26 – at Chicago, 5 p.m.
Feb. 28 – at Lakers, 7 p.m.
MARCH
March 2 – at Lakers, 6:30 p.m.
March 4 – at Phoenix, 7 p.m.
March 5 – vs. Detroit, 7:30 p.m.
March 7 – vs. New York, 7:30 p.m.
March 9 – vs. Sacramento, 6:30 p.m.
March 11 – at New Orleans, 6:30 p.m.
March 12 – at Miami, 5 p.m.
March 14 – at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m.
March 16 – vs. Washington, 7 p.m.
March 18 – vs. Cleveland, 7:30 p.m.
March 19 – at Utah, 6 p.m.
March 21 – vs. Memphis, 7:30 p.m.
March 23 – vs. Oklahoma City, 6 p.m.
March 26 – at New York, 4:30 p.m.
March 28 – at Brooklyn, 4:30 p.m.
March 30 – at Cleveland, 12:30 p.m.
March 31 – at Orlando, 4 p.m.
APRIL
April 2 – vs. New Orleans, 7 p.m.
April 4 – vs. Dallas, 7:30 p.m.
April 5 – vs. Dallas, 7:30 p.m.
April 8 – vs. San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.
April 9 – vs. Houston, 7:30 p.m.
April 11 – at Sacramento, 7 p.m.
April 13 – at Golden State, 12:30 p.m.
* = NBA Cup Group Play games
