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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 07: LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates with Magic Johnson after scoring to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena on February 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Five-time Los Angeles Lakers NBA champion Magic Johnson has endorsed the NBA\u2019s decision to open the 2026-27 season with a fixture between the New York Knicks<\/a> and the new-look Philadelphia 76ers led by LeBron James.<\/p>\n Taking to X, Johnson showed his appreciation for NBA commissioner Adam Silver.<\/p>\n \u201cWow! Basketball fans all over the world should give NBA Commissioner Adam Silver a standing ovation for scheduling the New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76ers game on NBA Opening Night\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffe,\u201d Johnson wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was already going to be a special night because the Knicks are receiving their championship rings \u2013 but now LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey all will be playing. Must see TV!\u201d<\/p>\n Wow! Basketball fans all over the world should give NBA Commissioner Adam Silver a standing ovation for scheduling the New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76ers game on NBA Opening Night\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffeIt was already going to be a special night because the Knicks are receiving their<\/p>\n Magic Johnson Praises NBA<\/p>\n The Hall of Famer also praised the NBA for scheduling the mouth-watering Western Conference Finals rematch between the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> and Oklahoma City Thunder cap for NBA opening night.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you thought the Knicks vs. 76ers match up was great, the second game may be even better as the San Antonio Spurs take on the Oklahoma City Thunder!\u201d<\/p>\n If you thought the Knicks vs. 76ers match up was great, the second game may be even better as the San Antonio Spurs take on the Oklahoma City Thunder!<\/p>\n The Spurs took down the Thunder in seven games in an epic seven-game West Finals series earlier this year. As a result, Victor Wembanyama made his first NBA Finals appearance in just his third season in the league, albeit in a loss to the Knicks.<\/p>\n NBA opening night will also feature a rare matinee clash (3 p.m. ET) between the Boston Celtics<\/a> and Detroit Pistons as part of a tripleheader on NBC.<\/p>\n NBA Opening Week Fixtures<\/p>\n The first week of the 2026-27 season will see superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Edwards, Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic in action.<\/p>\n \u201cA pair of doubleheaders on ESPN highlight opening week, including Giannis Antetokounmpo making his debut with the Miami Heat<\/a>, against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 21,\u201d read an ESPN report.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Golden State Warriors<\/a> also play at the Los Angeles Lakers that day, with the Cleveland Cavaliers at 76ers and Nuggets at Thunder on Oct. 22.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo more games to air Oct. 23 on Prime Video were also announced, Knicks at Celtics (7 p.m. ET) and Houston Rockets<\/a> at Spurs (9:30 p.m.). The Rockets-Spurs game will be played at the Moody Center in Austin.\u201d<\/p>\n The Knicks are trying to become the first team since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors to win back-to-back NBA championships. The odds are currently not in their favor, with the Thunder and Spurs opening the season as joint-title favorites.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sportswriter with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 07: LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates with Magic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-855226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}