The NBA’s upcoming schedule release for the 2022-23 season features four nationally televised Houston Rockets games, according to The Athletic’s Kelly Iko. The complete schedule will be released Wednesday afternoon.
As a reminder, the NBA’s national TV schedule does have flexibility and can be revised. In other words, if a team overachieves or underachieves its projections (in the eyes of the league and its broadcast partners), it could have games national telecasts added or subtracted.
With the Rockets, even though there are clear young building blocks such as Jalen Green (the No. 2 pick from the first round of the 2021 NBA draft) and Jabari Smith Jr. (the No. 3 pick in 2022), the reality is Houston has had the league’s worst record in each of the past two seasons. Bad teams typically aren’t TV draws, so barring a big-name influx of elite veteran talent, which the Rockets did not have this offseason, to upgrade the roster and its short-term outlook, networks are likely to hesitate on picking up too many Rockets games until they win at a higher clip.
These are the dates and networks of Houston’s initial allotment of four nationally televised games:
- Nov. 12, at New Orleans (NBA TV)
- Nov. 26, vs. Oklahoma City (NBA TV)
- Jan. 11, at Sacramento (ESPN)
- Jan. 16, at Los Angeles Lakers (NBA TV)
The full schedule, which will include all game dates, times, and locations, will be released at 2 p.m. CDT on Wednesday.
Other games on Houston’s 82-game schedule will be televised via regional broadcast partner AT&T SportsNet Southwest and available nationally through NBA League Pass.
The Houston Rockets will be on national television four times this season, sources tell @TheAthletic:
— Nov. 12, at New Orleans (NBA TV)
— Nov. 26, vs. Oklahoma City (NBA TV)
— Jan. 11, at Sacramento (ESPN)
— Jan. 16, at Los Angeles (NBA TV)
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIkoNBA) August 16, 2022
