Christmas will come a couple days early for the Brooklyn Nets fans out there looking to let Deron Williams know how they feel about him.
Williams and the Dallas Mavericks come to Brooklyn on Dec. 23. It will be the first time Williams plays at Barclays since securing a buyout with the Nets last month.
Here is a look at a few other key dates on the Nets’ schedule:
• The Nets open the season at home against Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 28. They then have a tough road back-to-back against the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies (Oct. 30-31).
• Nets center Brook Lopez will play his brother, Robin, who signed with the New York Knicks this offseason, four times, starting Dec. 4 at Madison Square Garden. Knicks president Phil Jackson has offered some candid criticism of new Nets Andrea Bargnani and Shane Larkin in ESPN’s Phil Files with Charley Rosen. The Knicks and Nets also play at Brooklyn on Jan. 13, at Brooklyn on Feb. 19 and at MSG on April 1.
• The Nets go on a nine-game road trip and have 21 days between home games in February and March because of circus and college basketball commitments at Barclays Center.
• Brooklyn has only one game on national television this season: against the Knicks on Dec. 4 (ESPN). The national networks didn’t show much interest in the New York market as a whole. The Knicks play on national television seven times. For comparison’s sake, the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers will be on national television a combined 43 times.
• The NBA made an effort to reduce the difficult four-games-in-five-nights sets and the number of back-to-backs in 2015-16. The Nets have 15 back-to-backs; the league average for previous seasons was 20.
