When do the NBA Finals start?

Clear your calendar for June.

After what promises to be a highly competitive and dramatic pair of Conference Finals, Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals will tip off at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, June 6.

If the Finals reach a full seven games, the decisive Game 7 will take place on Sunday, June 23. All games will be broadcast on ABC. The full NBA Finals schedule is available below:

• Game 1: Thursday, June 6 (8:30 p.m.)
• Game 2: Sunday, June 9 (8 p.m.)
• Game 3: Wednesday, June 12 (8:30 p.m.)
• Game 4: Friday, June 14 (8:30 p.m.)
• Game 5: Monday, June 17 (8:30 p.m.)
• Game 6: Thursday, June 20 (8:30 p.m.)
• Game 7: Sunday, June 23 (8 p.m.)

The basketball universe will have just a few weeks off from serious competition following the Finals. Merely 34 calendar days following a potential NBA Finals Game 7, Olympic basketball will commence in Paris on July 27.

An abbreviated offseason will obviously be a joy for fans, but it is likely to create interesting health narratives for certain NBA players heading into next season on significantly less physical and emotional rest. In examining Team USA’s roster, in particular, seven of its 12 players are over 30 years old: LeBron James (39), Stephen Curry (36), Kevin Durant (35), Jrue Holiday (33), Kawhi Leonard (32), Anthony Davis (31), and Joel Embiid (30).

It remains to be seen whether Leonard and Embiid, each battling significant injuries at present, will remain on Team USA’s active roster for Paris.

However, Paris is months away. For now, the remainder of the NBA Playoffs is sure to provide many a memorable thrill, especially if early heroics from Donte DiVincenzo and Jamal Murray are of any indication.

It is also interesting that a lower-seeded team has yet to win a single matchup through the first 11 games of the NBA Playoffs.  If such a trend continues through the remainder of spring, the most inevitable location for Game 1 of the Finals appears to be TD Garden in Boston, where the Celtics would be hosting a Denver Nuggets team looking to defend its crown.