NEW YORK — As expected, the Knicks are prime-time basketball, and the proof is in the schedule.

The new-look Knicks, featuring Mikal Bridges after the trade with the Brooklyn Nets, will headline NBA opening night with the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Oct. 22.

The Celtics will be hosting their ring ceremony after winning the NBA title in 2024. It will be an experience for a Knicks team hoping to one day receive their own rings, and if they are to do so, their biggest challenge resides in Boston, where the Knicks will start their season measuring themselves against the defending champs.

The game will mark the 495th time the Knicks and Celtics have met for a regular-season game. The Celtics lead in head-to-head play by an overwhelming 304-190 margin, though Boston only holds a 36-31 advantage in playoff games.

The two teams played five regular-season games last year with the Celtics taking the series via gentleman’s sweep, 4-1, and the Knicks came one game shy of meeting Boston in the Eastern Conference finals. They ran out of gas amid a rash of injuries and lost to the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the second round.

Madison Square Garden will play host arena on Christmas Day, as the Knicks will welcome the San Antonio Spurs for Victor Wembanyama’s second game at The World’s Most Famous Arena.

The matchup will mark the Knicks’ league-leading 57th game on Christmas. They own a 24-32 record on the holiday.

The game will undoubtedly be a spectacle: Wembanyama, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, is coming off of a breakout performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he won FIBA Rising Star and led France to a silver medal, scoring 26 points in his country’s loss to Team USA.

On Christmas, the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama will play his second career game at Madison Square Garden. He played a poor game by his own standards (14 points, 4 of 14 FG, 0 of 4 3PT) in his first trip to the Garden, but the Knicks’ home court is widely recognized as the breakout birthplace for a number of stars in NBA history.

The Knicks had 29 nationally televised games in the 2023-24 NBA season. The number is expected to increase as the Knicks are competing for a championship after forming a team around a unique group of players who won a championship together at Villanova, then re-united at the professional level.

Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo were each members of the Villanova Wildcats team that won the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Brunson, Bridges and DiVincenzo went on to win a second title at Villanova in 2018 after Hart left for the NBA draft.

Brunson left the Dallas Mavericks and signed a contract with the Knicks the summer of 2022. The Knicks acquired Hart from the Portland Trail Blazers shortly after, then signed DiVincenzo as a free agent in the summer of 2023. They then traded five draft picks plus a first-round pick swap to the Nets to acquire Bridges and complete the Nova Knicks circle this summer.

The Knicks are coming off of an injury-riddled season doubling as one of the most successful in franchise history. Despite a season-ending shoulder injury to Julius Randle, two left ankle injuries to Mitchell Robinson, plus a rash of injuries elsewhere on the roster leaving the team barren in the playoffs, the Knicks still finished with 50 wins, the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed and fell one game shy of a trip to the conference finals.

With Brunson — who signed a team-friendly contract extension and was subsequently named team captain — at the helm, the Knicks are hoping to improve on last season and make a run at an NBA title.

The world is interested, as evidenced by this team’s inclusion not just on Christmas Day, but also as the very first game of the NBA season.

These Knicks have a real shot. The schedule makers appear to agree.

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