Nets to scrimmage vs. Pelicans, Spurs and Jazz before opening play in ‘bubble’

The NBA has released its full scrimmage schedule for the Orlando “bubble” and the Nets will scrimmage the Pelicans (with Zion Williamson), Spurs and Jazz between July 22 and July 27. The Nets have the first of their eight “seeding” games four days later.

Here’s the full schedule...

The NBA will use the three courts at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports for the scrimmages, just as they will for the “seeding games,” any play-in games and the playoffs.

Brooklyn opens its scrimmage schedule Wednesday, July 22 at 9 p.m. vs. New Orleans, then plays San Antonio on Saturday, July 25 at 4:30 p.m. before finishing up with Utah on Monday, July 27 at 5:30 p.m. Between the scrimmages and “seeding” games, the Nets will play 11 times in 23 days. That doesn’t include the possibility of a play-in tournament for the eighth spot.

Potential broadcast details for the scrimmages will be determined at a later date, the NBA announced.

According to the league rules, teams are scrimmaging only against teams in the opposite conference or an unlikely first-round playoff opponent in same conference,

Jacque Vaughn, in a Zoom conference call with Nets media on Saturday, said the scrimmages are necessary just to reacquaint players with game conditions, something they haven’t experienced since March.

“Really, the goal of those games is to give some guys some rhythm,” said Vaughn. “Our guys haven’t played 3-on-3, 5-on-5, none of the normal build-up you have going into a regular season. More than anything, the conditioning is going to be a piece of it.”

The Nets fly to Orlando on Tuesday.