The NBA season schedule for 2014 has the opener on October 28 as the start date and the basketball matchups for the first night of action include the San Antonio Spurs taking on the Dallas Mavericks to open their championship defense, while the Houston Rockets and LA Lakers play in Los Angeles after the Magic and Pelicans play earlier in the night.

The Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs will kick off the season on TNT at 8 pm ET at home and that will be the first game of a doubleheader on the network. The Orlando Magic and New Orleans Pelicans also will be playing at 8 pm ET, while the Houston Rockets and LA Lakers play at 10:30 pm ET in game 2 of the TNT set. The second game will see Dwight Howard visit his old team, while Kobe Bryant will be making his return to the court after being injured last season.

The Wednesday schedule has the rest of the league in action and that includes early games like the Washington Wizards against the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets against Boston Celtics. ESPN has the Chicago Bulls against the NY Knicks and the late game is the Oklahoma City Thunder taking on the Portland Trail Blazers. Other matchups include the Lakers and Suns, Rockets and Jazz, Hawks and Raptors as well as the Cavaliers and Knicks on Friday night.

The Cavaliers come into the season as the favorites in the eastern conference, while the Spurs are expected to be the best out west. The Spurs will open their title defense against the Mavericks and that will be on the first night of the season, while the Rockets and Lakers will also play.

Check here for the full NBA schedule.