LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers are starting over this season.
After going 42-40 last season and finishing ninth in the Western Conference, the franchise traded away its core at the deadline and wrapped things up with a play-in loss that essentially forced the hand of the front office in the offseason.
Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Ivica Zubac are all gone now, or at least on track to be, replaced by a roster full of youth led by No. 5 overall pick Keaton Wagler and a returning Darius Garland.
The NBA officially dropped the 2026-27 schedule today, and for a Clippers team that is clearly rebuilding, this one might actually work in their favor.
Here are the main takeaways:
The Season Begins and Ends With Wagler vs. Acuff
The Clippers open the season on October 21 and close it on April 11 against the Sacramento Kings, which means the year starts and ends with a matchup between two of the top picks from June's draft.
Wagler, the fifth pick out of Illinois, and Sacramento's Darius Acuff Jr., the seventh pick out of Arkansas, will face off on opening night and again on the final day of the regular season.
It seems the league wants to push this new group of guards forward out of the gate, and I don't mind it at all.
This Is the Most Favorable Schedule in Years
The Clippers will play just 13 back-to-backs this season, down from 15 last year and 17 the year before that.
Of those 13, nine of them end with the team back home in Inglewood, and only four are double-road back-to-backs, while five are double-home sets.
The Clippers also won't have to play on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day.
When you're trying to develop young players and keep your veterans healthy, fewer back-to-backs and more time at home goes a long way.
Return Games Will Be Circled on the Calendar
The guys who used to run this team are all coming back to Intuit Dome this season.
Kawhi Leonard, who put up 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game across 65 games last season before hypothetically being dealt to Toronto, returns on November 2 when the Raptors visit.
James Harden, the 11-time All-Star who averaged 23.6 points per game across 70 games last season before being traded to Cleveland at the deadline, comes back on March 11 when the Cavaliers are in town, barring any major move to another team.
Ivica Zubac, who was sent to Indiana in the other deadline deal, gets his return game on December 20 when the Pacers come through Los Angeles.
Matinee Games Are Coming Back
The Clippers are bringing back early afternoon starts this season, with two 1:30 p.m. home tip-offs on the schedule.
November 15 against Charlotte and April 4 against Phoenix are the matinee games at Intuit Dome, and it's been a while since the Clippers have had those on the calendar.
These are the earliest Clipper games ever at Intuit Dome and 90 minutes earlier than the previous Clippers record.
National TV
Even in the middle of a rebuild, the Clippers still landed eight national television games this season.
That's a low number, but the team just moved on from its biggest names, and it shows that the league is still somewhat interested in seeing what Garland, Wagler, Brandon Ingram, and the rest of this group look like together on a nightly basis.
This is a different kind of Clippers team heading into the fall.
The star power that defined the last few seasons is gone, and the roster looks nothing like it did a year ago.
But the schedule is doing them a favor this time around, with fewer back-to-backs, more home dates, and no holiday obligations weighing them down.
If there was ever a year for the Clippers to take a step back and let a young group figure things out together, this is the one.