With so much player movement this offseason, the 2019-20 NBA season features a plethora of potential revenge games.
Revenge games will be all the rage during the 2019-20 NBA season.
Since so many big-name players moved either via free agency or trades this offseason, there will be no shortage of homecomings scattered throughout the regular season. After the NBA released the season schedule Monday, we now know which dates to circle on our calendars.
Revenge games come in all shapes and sizes. Some players left acrimoniously and will aim to prove their old teams made a mistake. Others will feature players who have no ill will toward their old teams, but their former teammates may not feel the same way.
To qualify as a top-five revenge game, there has to be some bad blood involved.
Toronto Raptors fans aren’t thrilled that Kawhi Leonard left to join the Los Angeles Clippers this summer, but he did so after helping the Raptors win their first-ever championship in franchise history. He should receive a hero’s welcome when he returns to Toronto on Dec. 11.
Jimmy Butler might not get a warm reception during first trip back to Philadelphia (Nov. 23), but one could argue the Sixers are better off without him. After all, Butler did help guide them to within one win of the Eastern Conference Finals last season and netted them Josh Richardson on his way out. (Still, Philadelphians figure to boo Butler nevertheless.)
The following five games have revenge-game material written all over them.