Two Sixers games in January moved off national television

The NBA announced two scheduling changes today for Philadelphia 76ers games taking place in January:

• Friday, January 6 - The Chicago at Philadelphia game will no longer be televised by ESPN, with game time changed to 7:00 PM ET.
• Tuesday, January 10 - The Detroit at Philadelphia game will no longer be televised by TNT, with game time changed to 7:00 PM ET.

I made the low-hanging-fruit joke about the league hating the Process in the subheader, but clearly, this is driven by the Bulls and Pistons both performing well below expectations this season. As of this writing, Chicago is 15-19, good for 10th place in the East, and the rumors have been flying around the disconnect between All-Stars Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. Detroit is last in the Eastern Conference at 9-28, with 2021 first overall pick Cade Cunningham suffering a season-ending leg injury.

These scheduling changes are undoubtedly unfortunate for out-of-market Sixers fans relying on nationally-televised games to catch their favorite squad. However, for those able to watch locally, us East Coast Olds can rejoice at the games being moved up to 7:00pm ET start times. I’m surely going to enjoy the extra half hour of sleep those nights.