NBA Schedule 2020-21: Start Time, TV Info for Opening Week, Christmas Day Reveal

After months of intrigue and uncertainty, basketball fans can finally begin to prepare for the start of the 2020-21 NBA season on Dec. 22.

On Wednesday, the league revealed its opening-night matchups, as well as its highly anticipated clashes for Christmas Day and more:

Unlike in previous years, the NBA is using a staggered release for the 2020-21 schedule. The second-half slate for the regular season is arriving at a later date as officials react to how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts play.

When the NBA decided to restart the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, it was clearly going to create a domino effect for the following year. The NBA Finals didn't wrap up until Oct. 11. For context, the regular season had started on Oct. 22, 2019.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told Rachel Nichols of ESPN in August that people around the league wanted to wait until a point at which fans could start returning to games.

"I think our No. 1 goal is to get fans back in our arenas," Silver said. "... So my sense is, in working with the players' association, if we could push back even a little longer and increase the likelihood of having fans in arenas, that's what we would be targeting."

One month later, Silver explained to Bob Costas on CNN that January was becoming a more realistic general target. He added that the goal remained to play a full 82-game regular season plus a traditional 16-team postseason.

However, those plans were discarded once it became clear how long it could be before a COVID-19 vaccine was distributed widely enough to open the doors of arenas to fans in large numbers.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe also wrote in November how an NBA calendar that included Christmas Day 2020 and 72 games "is worth between $500 million and $1 billion in short- and long-term revenues to the league and players, sources said."

Brian Windhorst of ESPN provided some insight into why Dec. 22 made sense on his Hoop Collective podcast in October. TNT could still have its traditional opening night, which includes the Finals winners receiving their championship rings, and ESPN would get to fill out Christmas Day.

Watching the NBA playoffs unfold in an empty arena made for an odd experience, and fans' heads were spinning as the 2020 draft, a flurry of trades and the start of free agency unfolded over a one-week span.

Hopefully, fans will be able to return to arenas at some point in the 2020-21 season.