Warriors preseason schedule released, and KD is heading back to Seattle

It may sound crazy, but the NBA season is sneaking up on us. The weather is cooling down, and kids are heading back to school, which can only mean one thing: It’s not long until we get to watch the Golden State Warriors again.

This year the team gets things kicked off in late September, when their five-game preseason slate gets underway. The team announced the full schedule for their preseason games today, and there are some interesting dates to circle.

If you can’t see the tweet, here’s the full schedule:

Saturday, September 29
Opponent: Minnesota Timberwolves
Location: Oracle Arena - Oakland, CA

Friday, October 5
Opponent: Sacramento Kings
Location: KeyArena - Seattle, WA

Monday, October 8
Opponent: Phoenix Suns
Location: Oracle Arena - Oakland, CA

Wednesday, October 10
Opponent: Los Angeles Lakers
Location: T-Mobile Arena - Las Vegas, NV

Friday, October 12
Opponent: Los Angeles Lakers
Location: SAP Center - San Jose, CA

While the NBA has yet to release the regular season schedule, opening night should be very shortly after the Warriors’ final preseason game.

Most notable is the second game, which will take place in Seattle. The Warriors haven’t played a game - preseason, regular season, or postseason - in Seattle since December 2, 2007, which was the rookie year for Kevin Durant, then a member of the Seattle SuperSonics.

So it will be a homecoming of sorts for Durant, as well as a great event for the city of Seattle, which has a tremendous basketball fanbase, and greatly deserves to have an NBA franchise. That said, it should be pointed out that the WNBA’s Seattle Storm have the best record in the league, so thankfully the fans have one great team to cheer on, even if they deserve two.

Also of note is a game in Las Vegas. Vegas, along with Seattle, is on the short list of teams that will be considered the next time the NBA expands, or a team relocates. All of a sudden Vegas has established itself as a big sports city, as the last year saw the addition of the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights, and the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, two teams that have seen success both in games, and in popularity and ticket sales. Furthermore, the NFL’s Oakland Raiders are set to move to Sin City in the next year or two.

All that is to say, it’s not a coincidence that the two most popular teams are squaring off at the new T-Mobile Arena in Vegas, even if just for a preseason game. The league is surely testing the waters a little bit.

But the most important part of the schedule release is that there are only 54 days until the next Warriors game!