Cavaliers: Schedule includes 17 games on national TV

The Cavaliers' 2023-24 regular-season schedule was announced Thursday, and they will make 17 appearances on national television if eight games on NBA TV are counted. The season tips off at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 on the road against the Brooklyn Nets. Two days later, the Cavs will host the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7:30 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The 17 national television appearances include: Three games on TNT (Oct. 31 vs. New York, Nov. 21 at Philadelphia and Feb. 1 at Memphis). Six games on ESPN (Jan. 17 vs. Milwaukee, Feb. 14 vs. Chicago, Feb. 23 at Philadelphia, March 3 vs. New York, March 10 vs. Brooklyn, April 3 at Phoenix). Eight games on NBA TV (Nov. 11 at Golden State, Nov. 13 at Sacramento, Dec. 14 at Boston, Dec. 16 vs. Atlanta, Dec. 29 vs. Milwaukee, Jan. 11 vs. Brooklyn in NBA Paris Game, March 29 vs. Philadelphia, and March 31 at Denver). Highlights of the home schedule include a visit from the NBA champion Denver Nuggets on Nov. 19 and visits from the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat on Nov. 22 and March 20. Cleveland will also host the Chicago Bulls on a Martin Luther King Jr. Day afternoon game on Jan. 15. Additional marquee opponents coming to Cleveland only once this season include the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 5, the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 25, the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 7, the Phoenix Suns on March 11, and the Memphis Grizzlies on April 10. The Cavs will travel to Paris on Jan. 11 to host Brooklyn at Accor Arena for the franchise's first game in Europe and third internationally. The Cavs traveled to China in 2007 and Brazil in 2015 during preseason action. Cleveland will participate in the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, with group play games on Tuesdays and Fridays in November. The Cavs are set to compete in East Group A with four games against teams in their pool: Nov. 3 at Indiana, Nov. 17 vs. Detroit, Nov. 21 at Philadelphia and Nov. 28 vs. Atlanta. Eight teams (four per conference) will advance from group play into the knockout rounds. The advancing teams will be the six group winners and two "wild cards" (the team from each conference with the best record in group play games that finished second in its group). The knockout rounds will consist of single-elimination games in the quarterfinals (Dec. 4 and 5), semifinals (Dec. 7) and championship (Dec. 9). The semifinals and championship will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All In-Season Tournament games will count toward the regular-season standings except the championship game. The losing teams in the quarterfinals in each conference will play each other in a regular-season game on Dec. 8. Each of the 22 teams that does not advance to the quarterfinals will be assigned two regular-season games (home and away) that will be played on Dec. 6 and 8. Cleveland's longest road trip spans five games from March 31-April 7. Contact Bob Finnan at rfinnan30@gmail.com. Follow him @BobCavsinsider on X.