The 2023-24 NBA regular season will begin with two eye-catching games between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, and the Phoenix Suns versus the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on October 24, according to The Athletic.

The Nuggets, as the reigning champions, will play on the opening day as a tradition. The Lakers, who were knocked out by them in the Western Conference Finals last season, were picked as their opponents.

The history of the two teams goes deeper than one series. The Nuggets' head coach Michael Malone traded barbs with the Lakers' superstar LeBron James and the purple and gold's coach Darvin Ham on multiple occasions.

As for the other game on the first day, both the Warriors and the Suns have been two of the best teams in the NBA in recent years. The Warriors won the title in the 2021-22 season and are the most valuable team in the league, worth $7.56 billion, according to sports business website Sportico. The Suns, after the arrival of Bradley Beal, have likely the best offensive starting lineup in today's NBA.

Besides, everyone would like to see what happens when old teammates face each other on different sides. Not only will Kevin Durant meet Draymond Green and Stephen Curry, Chris Paul will face Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.

The NBA also shared the Christmas Day schedule with The Athletic. The Milwaukee Bucks will go to the Madison Square Garden to challenge the New York Knicks on that day. The Knicks often play on the special day for good business, not to mention that they advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. Though the Bucks were eliminated in the first round in the playoffs last season, they are better than that in strength, especially when Giannis Antetokounmpo remains a top-five player in the league.

The Miami Heat will host the Philadelphia 76ers at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Christmas Day. The Heat were the NBA runners-up last season and have been trying to improve their squad by trading for Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. The 76ers were led by the reigning Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid who was also the scoring leader last season.

The Boston Celtics will play the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on December 25. The two share the oldest rivalry in NBA history and both have won 17 championships each, the most of all teams. Winning on Christmas Day surely won't add another trophy for either side, but both will hate it if they lose the game.

The Suns will take on the Dallas Mavericks at the Footprint Center in Pheonix, Arizona, on that day. Devin Booker proved with his performance in the series against the Nuggets that he is one of the best in the league, and he is teammates with four-time NBA scoring champion Durant as well as an elite isolation player Bradley Beal. They will be challenged by another dominant scoring pair, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

The Nuggets will play on Christmas Day as well, against the Warriors. The Nuggets are the reigning NBA champions, while the Warriors were crowned champions the season before the last. Nikola Jokic and Curry are probably two of the best team players in today's NBA, yet they have epic individual abilities. The Warriors will have a difficult time containing Jokic, while the Nuggets won't want to expose Jokic to either Curry or Paul.