Clippers to play Dallas Mavericks in home opener, Lakers on Christmas

The Clippers’ 2015-16 NBA schedule was released Wednesday afternoon and the season is already shaping up to be an interesting one.

The Clippers will open their season in Sacramento against the Kings on Oct. 28. As anticipated, the Clippers will play the Dallas Mavericks in their home opener Oct. 29. That matchup will be interesting because of the drama that played out last month when free-agent center DeAndre Jordan backed out of an oral commitment with the Mavericks to return to the Clippers, where he has spent his entire seven-season career.

The Jordan debacle made some serious headlines that included Jordan issuing a public apology to Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban over Twitter and Cuban spurning it, writing on Cyber Dust, “When is an apology not an apology? When you didn’t write it yourself. Next.”

The Clippers will play the Lakers on Christmas, a designated Lakers home game. Over the last three years, the Clippers have won 11 of 12 games against the Lakers in the Hallway Series, including dealing the Lakers their biggest loss in franchise history, 142-94, in March 2014. But there’s always this fact: The Lakers have won 16 NBA championships and the Clippers have never made it past the second round of the playoffs in their 45-year existence.

Other games of interest include a Clippers-Warriors matchup Nov. 4 at Golden State, and a Clippers-Houston Rockets game Nov. 7 at Staples Center. The Rockets knocked the Clippers out of the second round of the playoffs last season, becoming just the ninth team in NBA history to recover from a 3-1 series deficit to advance to the next round.

The Clippers will play in 33 nationally televised games next season, the most in franchise history. Their longest home stretch will include six consecutive games at Staples Center from Nov. 25 to Dec. 5.

Single-game tickets will go on sale to the general public on Thursday at 2 p.m. Here’s the full schedule.