FILE: NBA announces pre-season plans with games to start on Dec 12

The NBA released a condensed 49-game preseason schedule Friday,  with teams playing between two and four games starting on December 11. Preseason contests will continue through December 19. Teams begin training camps next week.

The league plans to reveal the first half of the 72-game regular season schedule - that means games to be played between December 22 and March 4 - in the coming days. Games for the season’s second half, scheduled as between March 11 and May 16, will be revealed around the midpoint of the season.

The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers will play on the first night of the preseason, technically a home game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Lakers play the Clippers twice in the preseason, then a home-and-home with Phoenix and new Suns guard Chris Paul as well.s