Save the dates: Breaking down the Spurs’ schedule

That record — 62,046, set in 1998 when Atlanta hosted Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls at the Georgia Dome — might seem out of reach for a rebuilding team that last season had difficulty filling the 18,000-seat AT&T Center. But the combination of Alamodome nostalgia plus opponent might work in the Spurs’ favor.

The Dome game will mark the lone visit to San Antonio this season for Stephen Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

That tidbit was among the more noteworthy wrinkles in the Spurs’ 2022-23 schedule, unveiled Wednesday.

The Alamodome contest is one of four nontraditional “home” games the Spurs will play this season. The slate includes a Dec. 17 meeting with Miami in Mexico City and two contests at Austin’s new Moody Center — April 6 against Portland and April 8 against Minnesota.

Here is a look at other dates worth circling on the Spurs’ upcoming slate:

The opener

The Spurs’ new look cast of youngsters gets a chance to ease into the schedule — sort of — with an Oct. 19 opener at home against Charlotte.

The Hornets, who did not make the playoffs last season, might provide a less-rigorous entrée into the NBA for the Spurs’ cast of 19-year-old rookies than might otherwise be expected.

If nothing else, it will provide Spurs fans with the first official look at 2022 draftees Jeremy Sochan, Maliki Branham and Blake Wesley.

Mexico’s team?

The Spurs’ December trip to Mexico comes in a similar vein. The club is no stranger south of the Rio Grande, having played six times there since 1994.

The team estimates 5 million Spurs fans live in Mexico, with half of them living in Mexico City or Monterrey.

The Spurs will hope to reward those fans with a victory over a talented Heat team on Dec. 17.

A capital (city) idea

The Spurs’ request to play two games in Austin jibes with the club’s daring plan to dominate the professional sports market from Central Texas to central Mexico.

As such, the Spurs’ will play the final two “home” games of their season — on April 6 and 8 — at the University of Texas’ new gem of a basketball arena.

Austin, at least on paper, gets a chance to watch Damian Lillard and Karl Anthony-Towns square off against the Spurs.

Hoping to extend both their fan base and their corporate base, the Spurs get a chance to forge the beginnings of a toehold in the teeming Austin market.

Return of DJ

The Spurs set the stage for a rebuilding season when they traded All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray to Atlanta in June.

The Spurs’ first-round pick in 2016, Murray built his career from the ground up in San Antonio. He was a locker room leader and is the team’s all-time record holder for triple-doubles.

Spurs fans will have to wait a while to wish him farewell.

Murray and the Hawks visit the AT&T Center on March 19. The Spurs visit the Hawks a month earlier, on Feb. 11.

Derrick White, too

Murray wasn’t the only long-time Spur to be dealt in the past year. Derrick White has not faced the Spurs since they traded him to Boston in February.

Fresh off an appearance in the NBA Finals with the Celtics, the Spurs’ 2017 first-round selection comes back to San Antonio on Jan. 7.

The rodeo trip

By now, Spurs fans have become accustomed to having their team vacate the AT&T Center each February to give way to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

This season’s rodeo trip commences Feb. 6 in Chicago, and will take the team to Toronto, Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland and Charlotte before the All-Star break. When play resumes after the hiatus, the Spurs finish the trip by heading to Dallas and then playing two games at Utah.

LeBron double shot

With apologies to former Spurs Boban Marjanovic and Juancho Hernangomez, the L.A. Lakers’ LeBron James remains the world’s most famous basketball player turned actor.

The longtime Spurs foil will make back-to-back appearances in the AT&T Center on Nov. 25 and 26, with the Lakers in town for a doubleheader.

Kawhi’s comeback?

Having missed all of last season recovering from an ACL injury, Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard became something of an afterthought among NBA fans.

Spurs fans — at least some of whom remain permanently scarred from his 2018 departure — might get to see the still-rehabbing Leonard when the Clippers come to town Nov. 5.

If he is not ready by then, the Clippers return to the AT&T Center on Jan. 20.

Chasing draft gold

Once upon a time, the stretch run of the season was important to the Spurs’ playoff chances.

This season, it might be significant to their, ahem, pursuit of the No. 1 pick.

The teams that finish with the three worst records in the league each get a 14 percent chance of landing the top slot in the draft lottery.

If the Spurs are in position to slide to the cellar heading into the final month of the season, the schedule is bound to help the cause.

Of the Spurs’ final 11 games, only one is at the AT&T Center — March 29 against Utah.

Eight of those contests are true-to-form road games, and two will be played in Austin.

Getting to know Paolo

This year’s top draft choice will be on display twice against the Spurs this season.

The Spurs will be introduced to former Duke star Paolo Banchero when they visit Orlando on Dec. 23.

Fans in San Antonio can get a firsthand look at Banchero when the Magic stop by the AT&T Center on March 14.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN