The NBA released the full 2011-2012 regular season schedule on Tuesday for the Washington Wizards and the 29 other teams in the Association, displaying wishful thinking that the current lockout will end in time for the league to hold a full 82-game regular season.
If that does, in fact, happen, the Wizards season will begin on November 2 against the New Jersey Nets and will include six nationally-televised games. Five of those games will be aired on NBATV, which hardly counts as an honor since it rarely airs blockbuster matchups. Those contests will be at the Knicks on November 28, vs. the Hornets on December 19, vs. the Knicks on February 8, vs. Utah on March 7 and vs. Milwaukee on March 10.
The sixth and final nationally televised contest will air on ESPN. It is the Wizards' April 18 season finale against...
Wait for it...
The Toronto Raptors.
What?
For some reason, the NBA and ESPN think Wizards-Raptors will be a compelling match-up at the end of the regular season, when both teams are almost certain to be lottery-bound. I guess that Jan Vesely - Andrea Bargnani small forward match-up is too good to stay on local TV.
For the full Washington Wizards schedule, click here. For more on the NBA Schedule announcement, visit this StoryStream.