What does a schedule look like when you go from playoff contender to NBA question mark? Something similar to what the NBA released Thursday for the 2016-17 Miami Heat.
Despite advancing within one victory of the Eastern Conference finals, the offseason free-agency losses of Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and Joe Johnson, along with the lack of a first-round pick, have left the Heat with only five national-television appearances, fewer than half the team was issued last season.
Of the NBA’s major national partners, the Heat are not scheduled on ABC, have only two games on TNT and three on ESPN. The Heat also will have eight games on NBA TV, with 80 games (all but the two on TNT) to be televised in South Florida on Fox Sports Sun.
When it comes to marquee games, the biggest one comes early, with Wade and his Chicago Bulls making their lone visit of the season to AmericanAirlines Arena on Nov. 10 in an 8 p.m. TNT game.
The Heat open the regular season on Oct. 26 on the road against the Orlando Magic, followed by their home opener on Oct. 28, against the Charlotte Hornets.
Other prime home dates are Jan. 23 against Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors, March 4 and April 10 against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dec. 6 and March 31 against the rebuilt New York Knicks.
Heat partial season-ticket plans go on sale Aug. 19, with individual tickets to be made available starting Sept. 16.
The Heat will face each Western Conference team once at home and once on the road. As a means of balancing the schedule, the Heat will play every Eastern Conference opponent twice at home and twice on the road with the exception for four teams. The Heat will host the Bulls and Brooklyn Nets only once, and have only one road game against the Knicks and Indiana Pacers.
After playing 17 back-to-back sets each of the past three seasons, the Heat are scheduled for 15 this season, tying for the fewest in any of their 29 seasons. The league average for back-to-back sets is 16.3 this season. For the fifth consecutive season there are no back-to-back home games at AmericanAirlines Arena. The Heat have only one set of four games in five nights, which will come in early December and end with three consecutive road games.
Seventeen of the Heat’s 41 home games are on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, one more than last season.
Because of the lack of national television, the Heat are scheduled for only one game this season that starts before 6 p.m. local time, the Jan. 8 road game at the Los Angeles Clippers that begins at 12:30 p.m. there.
Among the more intriguing local elements of the schedule is the overlap with other South Florida teams.
The Heat and Florida Panthers play on the same day 34 times out of their 82-game schedules, but with only eight instances of home games for each.
There is only one overlap between Heat and Miami Dolphins games on the same day, which comes on New Year’s, with the Dolphins hosting the New England Patriots at 1 p.m. and the Heat playing at home at 6 p.m. against the Detroit Pistons.
There are three occasions when the Heat and University of Miami football team play on the same day, but only once when they both are home, with the Heat at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 26 and the Hurricanes at home that day against Duke. There would be a fourth conflict should the Hurricanes advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game in Charlotte on Dec. 3, with the Heat on the road that day against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Most of the extensive travel will be completed early, with the Heat’s final road game against the Western Conference coming against the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 27, with the Heat’s final game beyond the Central time zone coming on Jan. 10 against the Warriors in Oakland, Calif.
As for any type of rivalry with Wade, Heat-Bulls will conclude before the start of any type of playoff race, with the teams’ final regular-season meeting coming Jan. 27 in Chicago, in the Heat’s 48th game of the season.
The longest road trip and longest homestands of the season both will be six games, with a six-game homestand from Dec. 12 through Dec. 22 at AmericanAirlines Arena, and a six-game trip from Jan. 3 through Jan. 13.
The Heat will not play on Christmas for the first time since 2008 and just the second time in the past 13 years.
The New Year’s game against the Pistons marks the second consecutive year and seventh time in franchise history the Heat have been scheduled for Jan. 1. The Heat are 6-0 all-time on New Year’s, including 5-0 at home. The Heat’s average margin of victory on New Year’s has been 22.3 points.
The Heat will play the same opponent in consecutive games three times this season, but only once will they face the same opponent on consecutive nights, when they play the Grizzlies in Memphis on Nov. 25 and then a rematch the following night at AmericanAirlines Arena. The Grizzlies are coached by former Heat assistant coach David Fizdale.
iwinderman@sunsentinel.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman