The regular season began on October 25, 2016, with the 2016 NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers hosting a game against the New York Knicks.
The 2017 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 19, 2017, with the West defeating the East 192–182.
Additionally, Kevin Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors, and Dwyane Wade with the Chicago Bulls, after playing their entire careers until then with one team (Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat, respectively).
This was the first season of the new nine-year U.S. television contracts with ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV.
These rights are of indefinite duration, as NBA TV Canada is owned by the Toronto Raptors' ownership group, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which in turn is controlled by the parent companies of TSN and Sportsnet (Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, respectively).
TSN and Sportsnet each have rights to 41 Toronto Raptors regular season games and over 100 other regular season games,[98][99] and were expected (as in 2015–16) to share coverage of NBA All-Star Weekend, and split coverage of the playoffs and the NBA Finals.