You’ll never believe who your favorite NBA team will play this season!

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

LISTS ON LISTS ON LISTS: It’s that Interesting Because It’s August phenomenon: the NBA schedule release! I get as hyped as anyone until I remember that we’re celebrating and poring over lists and lists of games to be played at a time that is not now. The good news is that our NBA staff has broken down the schedule into consumable bits every which way.

Mike Prada has the CliffsNotes on each team’s slate.

Tim Cato has the 10 best games of the season.

Here’s the full five-game Christmas slate. The most interesting add is Rockets-Spurs.

Here’s the complete opening week schedule.

National TV breakdown.

Breakdown on back-to-backs. The league focused on minimizing 4-in-5 stretches (there’s about one per team) and limiting back-to-backs. This is good.

THE MORRII GOT PLAYED: We mentioned on Wednesday that Markieff Morris has demanded a trade. The real source of the trouble here is that the Morris twins got trucked by the Suns in negotiating their early extensions in 2014. Markieff ended up underpaid, Marcus is on a relatively small deal all things considered and they appeared to take discounts in order to stay together in Phoenix.

Meanwhile, the Suns had no obligation to keep them together and in fact had an incentive to break them up once they started feuding with fans and getting charged with felony assault. So they traded Marcus for cap space and made Markieff all mad.

This is what happens when you put your faith in a cold business concern! (To be clear since some readers of my column missed this: I’m not blaming the Suns at all in this. They took advantage of the twins getting caught up in their feelings. No foul.)

TEAM USA SCRIMMAGE! ESPN2 is going to show the USA Basketball Showcase at 10:30 p.m. ET from Vegas. Marc Spears has the rosters. Team White, coached by Thibs, is probably going to win by 50.

STILL AMAZING: There is somehow a new angle of footage of MJ’s The Shot. It’s still pretty good!

RIP: The Washington Generals are folding. I really thought this was their year.

NICK YOUNG AND WHITESNAKE: Two great tastes that taste great together.

HMM: It looks like there may be political consequences for Scott Walker after he signed the state of Wisconsin up for $250 million in arena subsidies.

PREP-TO-SEMIPRO: Alex Kennedy on the Vegas businessman who is now talking about paying a graduating senior up to $2.5 million to skip college and play on his semipro team for a year.

LIZZIE: Beautiful essay by WNBA supernova Elena Della Donne on her older sister Lizzie, who was born blind and deaf with cerebral palsy and autism.

THE GAME NOBODY WINS: Spencer Hall went to Myanmar and teaches us about the culture there and the sport of chinlone, which is unwinnable.

Happy Thursday. See you next time.