Lakers face Clippers; Curry vs Durant

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The NBA season will tip off Christmas week with two games on opening night, highlighted by the Los Angeles Lakers championship ring ceremony, the league announced on Wednesday.

The Lakers will battle the Los Angeles Clippers on December 22 to open the season just 10 weeks a er they beat the Miami Heat in six games to win in their 17th NBA championship.

The league decided to hold off on announcing its full schedule and is doing it in a piecemeal fashion instead. Three days of the schedule came out Wednesday and another batch will be revealed on Friday.

The other opening night game features the Golden State Warriors visiting Kevin Durant's Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center arena. Durant hasn't played since June 2019, when he ruptured his Achilles tendon.

Weeks later, Durant signed as a free agent with Brooklyn, ending a three-year stint with the Warriors in which he won two finals MVPs and a pair of NBA titles.