August 12, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans announced today their schedule for the 2015-16 regular season. The Pelicans will open the season with two road games, including the opening night of the season, when the Pelicans head to Golden State on Oct. 27 to take on the defending champion Warriors on TNT. The Pelicans will host their first home game of the season on Saturday, Oct. 31 in a rematch against Golden State at the Smoothie King Center at 6:30 p.m.

“As the schedule is released today, we continue to grow more excited about the upcoming Pelicans season,” said Owner Tom Benson. “We’re excited to have Head Coach Alvin Gentry leading our team and have had a great off-season as we signed Anthony [Davis] to a contract extension and kept our core group of young, talented players together. As we continue to build our fan base in the Gulf South, we hope this increases the excitement level as we have a lot to look forward to this upcoming season. After experiencing the playoffs last year at the Smoothie King Center, I think our entire organization and our fans are ready for the season to begin and create that electric home court advantage at Pelicans games this season.”

The Pelicans will head to Miami to take on the HEAT on Christmas day on ESPN in the first match-up of the day. The game will be the first Christmas Day game for New Orleans since the 2008-09 season. The Pelicans will return to New Orleans the following day to take on division rival Houston.

New Orleans is scheduled to appear on national television 21 times this season. ESPN will broadcast the Pelicans’ home matchups against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, Nov. 20 and the lone visit by the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, Dec. 4, as well road contests at Oklahoma City (Nov. 18), Phoenix (Dec. 18), Miami (Dec. 25), Memphis (Jan. 18), Houston (Mar. 2) and Golden State (Mar. 14) . TNT will feature five Pelicans games. In addition to opening night at Golden State, TNT will broadcast home games on Thursday, Feb. 4 against the L.A. Lakers, Thursday, Feb. 25 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Thursday, Mar. 16 against San Antonio, as well as the Pelicans’ road game at Oklahoma City on Feb. 11. NBATV is scheduled to broadcast a total of eight Pelicans games throughout the season, featuring the home opener against Golden State, Nov. 27 at the L.A. Clippers, Dec. 2 at Houston, Dec. 26 versus Houston, Jan. 12 at the L.A. Lakers, Jan. 19 versus Minnesota, Feb. 23 at Washington and Mar. 24 at Indiana.

The number of games scheduled to be broadcast by ESPN/ABC and TNT (13) ties the most in franchise history. New Orleans was featured 13 times between the three networks during the 2008-09 season.

In addition to the 21 games being televised nationally, New Orleans’ games at Golden State on Oct. 27, at Oklahoma City on Feb. 11 and versus Oklahoma City on Feb. 25 will be broadcast on ESPN Radio.

The Pelicans will play 19 of their 41 home games on Friday (9), Saturday (8), or Sunday (2).

All home games will tip off at 7:00 p.m., with the exception of the eight Saturday night home contests tipping off at 6:00 p.m. (with the exception of opening night against Golden State at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 31), the two home Sunday contests tipping off at 5:00 p.m., and New Orleans’ home game against Cleveland, which will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 4.

The Pelicans’ longest homestand will be seven games taking place from Jan. 19-Feb. 1 when New Orleans plays host to Minnesota, Detroit, Milwaukee, Houston, Sacramento, Brooklyn and Memphis. The Pelicans have two five-game road trips during the season, traveling to Chicago, Portland, Utah, Phoenix and Denver from Dec. 12-20 and Charlotte, Memphis, Milwaukee, Golden State and Sacramento from Mar. 9-16.

The Pelicans will play Southwest Division rivals (Dallas, Houston, Memphis and San Antonio) four times each (twice at home/twice on the road). The same holds true for Pacific and Northwest Division foes, with the exception of the Golden State Warriors (one home game on Oct. 31), the Denver Nuggets (one road game on Dec. 20), the Los Angeles Lakers (one road game on Jan. 12) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (one home game on Feb. 25). New Orleans will also play each team in the Eastern Conference once at home and once on the road.