August 11, 2016
NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans announced today their schedule for the 2016-17 regular season. The Pelicans will open the season at the Smoothie King Center on Wednesday, Oct. 26 against the Denver Nuggets. New Orleans’ first road game of the season will be a Saturday night game against the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 29.
“This is always an exciting time of year as we build anticipation for the upcoming 2016-17 season,” said Pelicans Owner Tom Benson. “Mickey Loomis, Dell Demps and Alvin Gentry have worked diligently this offseason to put a product on the court that Pelicans fans will be extremely proud of. We’re excited to add a group of high character, talented and hard-working players to our team. We couldn’t be happier with the way this offseason has gone and are extremely excited about the future of our organization.”
The Pelicans will host the defending NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, Jan. 23 and the defending Western Conference Champion Golden State Warriors on Friday, Oct. 28 and Tuesday, Dec. 13.
New Orleans is scheduled to appear on national television 14 times this season. ESPN will broadcast the Pelicans’ home matchups against the Golden State Warriors on Friday, Oct. 28, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wednesday, Nov. 23, and the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, Mar. 3, as well a road contest at Portland in the season finale on Apr. 12. TNT will feature the Monday, March 27 game on the road against the Utah Jazz. NBATV is scheduled to broadcast a total of nine Pelicans games throughout the season, featuring Oct. 29 at San Antonio, Nov. 8 at Sacramento, Nov. 22 at Atlanta, Dec. 10 at the L.A. Clippers, Dec. 28 versus the L.A. Clippers, Jan. 16 at Indiana, Jan. 29 versus Washington, Feb. 12 at Sacramento, and Feb. 26 at Oklahoma City.
The Pelicans will play 16 of their 41 home games on Friday (11), Saturday (2), or Sunday (3).
All home games will tip off at 7:00 p.m., with the exception of the two Saturday night home contests tipping off at 6:00 p.m., the three home Sunday contests tipping off at 5:00 p.m, and the three primetime games on ESPN that will tip off at 8:30 p.m.
The Pelicans’ longest homestand will be six games taking place from Jan. 18-29 when New Orleans plays host to Orlando, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Washington. This homestand follows New Orleans’ longest road trip of the year – a five-game trip from Jan. 7-16 taking on Eastern Conference opponents Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Chicago and Indiana.
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 Los Angeles Lakers (one home game on Nov. 29), the Minnesota Timberwolves (one road game on Feb. 10), the Los Angeles Clippers (one road game on Dec. 10) and the Utah Jazz (one home game Feb. 8). New Orleans will also play each team in the Eastern Conference once at home and once on the road.
