Cavaliers 2018-19 schedule released by NBA

CLEVELAND– The NBA released the full schedule for the Cavaliers’ 2018-19 season on Friday.

Things look more than a little different for the defending Eastern Conference champions without LeBron James on the roster.

Cleveland will start the season on the road with a game against the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 17, and will then travel to Minnesota on Oct. 19. They will play their home opener on Sunday Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. against the Atlanta Hawks.

After playing in 39 nationally televised games in 2017-18, Cleveland has just seven this year– two on ESPN, five on NBA TV and zero games on TNT.

The first major and national broadcast game for Cleveland is James’ return to Cleveland on Nov. 21 with the Los Angeles Lakers. Tip-off is at 8 p.m and ESPN will have the coverage. The Cavs will take on James in L.A. for a second time on Jan. 13 on NBA TV. The only other ESPN game this season comes on Feb. 13 against the Brooklyn Nets at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Cavs will play 14 sets of back-to-back games this year, including three home-home sets, five road-road sets and four home-road sets. The Cavs’ longest homestand consists of five games over 15 days from Feb. 11-25. The second longest homestand is four games over seven days from Jan. 2-8.

Cleveland’s longest road trip takes place over 11 days, as the Cavs will play six games from Jan. 9-19 out west.

Check out the full schedule online here.