We are now about two months away from the new NBA season and with the earlier start date to the season, there is less waiting around for basketball to return. The Washington Wizards, coming off their best season in 38 years, released their schedule today. Here are the highlights of the full schedule.

Season Opener: Wednesday, October 18 vs. the Philadelphia 76ers on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET

For the first time since 2011 and first time in a full season since 2008, the Wizards will begin their season at home. They were the only team to start each of the past five seasons on the road. The October 18 start is also the earliest the team has started the regular season since they opened at Detroit on October 10, 1980; this earlier start to the season is a part of the longer season to allow for greater rest for players during the season.

National Television Games

After just five games on ESPN/ABC or TNT last season, which was to the disdain of John Wall and others on the team, the Wizards will have EIGHTEEN national TV games not including those broadcasted on NBA TV. Ten games will be on NBA TV for a total of 28 "national" TV games, which is good for ninth most in the NBA.

Games vs. Boston

• Monday, December 25 (Away)

• Thursday, February 8 (Home)

• Wednesday, March 14 (Away)

• Tuesday, April 10 (Home)

Games vs. Cleveland

• Friday, November 3 (Home)

• Sunday, December 17 (Home)

• Thursday, February 22 (Away)

• Thursday, April 5 (Away)

Games vs. Golden State

• Friday, October 27 (Away)

• Wednesday, February 28 (Home)

Number of Back-to-Backs: 15 (16 last year). The earlier start to the season is meant to eliminate the potential of four games in five nights. The league average for back-to-backs is 14.4, while the conference average is 14.2.

Last Game: Wednesday, April 11 at the Orlando Magic on CSN at 8 p.m. ET

The Wizards will play 23 of their 41 home games on the weekend (Friday-Sunday), with 11 of those dates falling on Friday and seven on Saturday. The team will play nine of its last 14 regular season home games on the weekend.

This season’s schedule includes four holiday games: the Christmas Day matinée against the Celtics, a New Year’s Eve contest vs. Chicago, a MLK Day matchup against the Bucks (Jan. 15) at Capital One Arena and a Valentine’s Day game at the New York Knicks.

Washington’s longest homestand is a 10-day, five-game stretch from Jan. 6 – 15; while the longest road trip will take place following that stretch during the same month – an 11-day five-game road trip from Jan. 17-27 (Charlotte, Detroit, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Atlanta). The Wizards also have two early West Coast road trips, traveling to Denver, L.A. Lakers, Golden State and Sacramento from Oct. 23-29. They head back out West from Dec. 4-9, when they play Utah, Portland, Phoenix and the L.A. Clippers.

Each team in the Eastern Conference will visit Capital One Arena twice with the exception of Chicago (Dec. 31) and Brooklyn (Jan. 13), while the Wizards will visit Indiana (Feb. 13) and New York (Feb. 14) only once during the regular season.

Washington will travel 41,451 miles this season. The minimum in the NBA is 37,587, while the maximum is 49,907. They will play 12 games where they did not play the day before but their opponent did and 11 games where they played the day before and their opponent did not for a fresh, tired, and even score of +1. There are three games where Washington has to travel over 750 miles, the same as the league average, and seven times they have to change time zones compared to the league average of four.