The Washington Wizards 2019-20 schedule is out!

Our first glimpse at who the Washington Wizards will play this upcoming season is here.

It’s August, and aside from Team USA dropouts and pre-FIBA action, basketball news is hard to come by. The free agency frenzy is over. Most of the trades that would happen this off-season have already happened. We’re in a real NBA lull.

Luckily for all of us, the NBA knows we’re hungry for something. Anything! So today they threw us a few crumbs to keep us from starving. Finally, the schedule for the 2019-20 NBA season has been released. Now that rosters have realigned and the power balance has shifted, we can start forecasting what the season will actually look like.

Regardless of the schedule, the season will most likely be full of far more losses than wins in Washington for the second-straight season. As a result, Bradley Beal, Isaiah Thomas and the rest of the Wizards won’t be gracing TV’s across American too many times this season. The Wizards are only scheduled to appear in just one nationally televised game next year. They’ll play the Cleveland Cavaliers on November 8 for all to see, per Fred Katz of The Athletic.

It’s not exactly a surprise, nor is the national TV schedule set in stone, but it’s an unfortunate reminder of what’s to come for the Wizards and us fans: a long and winding season of development. If the Wizards can create some real magic, they could get added to a few national broadcasts, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

There will still be storylines galore, though, and plenty of games ripe with drama. Whether they be matchups against familiar faces such as Kelly Oubre (March 25 vs Phoenix Suns) or Tomas Satoransky and Otto Porter (December 18 vs Chicago Bulls), or revenge games for new Wizards such as Isaiah Thomas (November 13 at the Boston Celtics) and Davis Bertans (October 26 at the San Antonio Spurs), there should be plenty of games worth watching next season.

Rui Hachimura will make his NBA debut on October 23 when the Wizards open their season vs Kristaps Porzingis, Luka Doncic, and the Dallas Mavericks. Their home opener will come a few days later when they take on Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and the Houston Rockets on October 30.

Let the countdown begin! The Wizards’ season starts in just 72 days…