One week after the NBA released its regular-season schedule, the Orlando Magic have announced their preseason schedule, which includes one nationally televised game and another in Wichita, Kansas. After the jump, the complete schedule.
But before clicking through, please read Eddy's post on Darrell Armstrong, if you haven't already.
| Date | Opponent | Tipoff Time (ET) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 5 | @ Dallas Mavericks | 8:30 PM | |
| Oct 7 | Miami Heat | 7:00 PM | |
| Oct 9 | Houston Rockets | 7:00 PM | |
| Oct 12 | @ Memphis Grizzlies | 8:00 PM | |
| Oct 13 | @ New Orleans Hornets | 8:00 PM | Wichita, KS |
| Oct 19 | @ Chicago Bulls | 8:00 PM | |
| Oct 21 | Indiana Pacers | 7:00 PM | |
| Oct 23 | Atlanta Hawks | 8:00 PM | ESPN |
Perhaps the most interesting takeaway here, apart from the game in Kansas, is that Orlando will appear on national TV even in the preseason. Now I don't suppose televising preseason games is anything new, but it's a bit odd that Orlando has more nationally televised preseason dates than Sacramento, New Jersey, Charlotte, Houston, and Milwaukee have regular-season ones. Indeed, those 5 teams each go ohfer in that category when the games start to matter. Kind of a bummer, yeah?
Also a bit of a bummer: the Magic have a back-to-back in the preseason. The silver lining is that coach Stan Van Gundy will have a reason to play more of the unsigned guys than he normally would.
From here, the most interesting game is the first one on the schedule: the Magic signed Brandon Bass away from the Mavericks earlier this summer, then matched Dallas' offer sheet for Marcin Gortat. How will those players do against their former and would-be teams, respectively? And will Jameer Nelson dare go near Erick Dampier, with whom he collided and separated his shoulder in February?
A solid slate, to be sure. And not so far away.