Cox Sports Television will broadcast 64 of 65 New Orleans Hornets regular-season games live, the network and team announced Wednesday. “We are thrilled that 100 percent of our games will be televised this year, with CST covering 65 of 66 and the lone exception being the national TV game on TNT in April,” team president Hugh Weber said.

The schedule begins with the Dec. 26 road opener against the Phoenix Suns and concludes with the last game of the regular season April 26 at the Houston Rockets.

“Cox Sports Television is thrilled to be entering into our 10th season of Hornets basketball” CST head Rod Mickler said. “The Hornets fans across the Gulf South can’t wait for another year of basketball on the highest level, and we can’t wait to tip off our exclusive 65 game schedule Dec. 26.”

Highlights of the schedule include an early look at the Boston Celtics trio of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in the Hornets’ home opener Dec. 28, a road game against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 7, a Jan. 30 game against the Miami Heat and all three games against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers (March 14, March 31, April 9).

The five must-see New Orleans Hornets games this season. Check out the full schedule here.

Dec. 28 vs. Boston Celtics. The regular-season home opener, nearly two months late, provides fans with perhaps the final opportunity to see the Celtics’ “Big Three” of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. It’s unlikely Boston will be able to keep this group together beyond this year. And it will give fans the chance to see just what kind of Hornets’ roster the team will have put together in the compressed free-agency period, as well as whether New Orleans was successful in retaining Chris Paul and re-signing forward David West.

Jan. 11 vs. Oklahoma City. This will be the only opportunity for New Orleans’ fans to see the Thunder, expected by many to contend this season for the Western Conference title. Oklahoma City is led by reigning NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook, one of the most potent combinations in the league. The Thunder pushed eventual NBA champion Dallas to the brink in the conference finals last summer. OKC plays just this one game in New Orleans Arena.

Jan. 21 vs. Dallas Mavericks. The defending NBA champion, with NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, aging point guard Jason Kidd and the league’s most dynamic off-the-bench player, Jason Terry, play the first of two games against the Hornets in New Orleans, where Dallas has had recent difficulty winning. It’s uncertain whether the Mavs will have retained the rights to former Hornets center Tyson Chandler, a free agent, who was an integral part of the Mavs’ first-ever championship in beating the Miami Heat.

Feb. 8 vs. Chicago Bulls. The best player in the league – at least that’s what it said on his most valuable player trophy last year – Derrick Rose brings the Bulls here for a game that was originally scheduled as the Hornets’ regular-season opener on Nov. 2. It just takes place three months later than expected, thanks to the 149-day lockout. Rose leads a young Bulls team that is expected to seriously challenge the star-studded Miami Heat for the Eastern Conference title.

March 14 vs. Los Angeles Lakers. That’s a long time to wait for the Lakers, who eliminated the Hornets in six games in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, to make their only appearance in New Orleans Arena. And less than one month later, sandwiched around the Hornets’ only game against L.A. on its home floor (not counting two against the Clippers who also play in Staples Center), the Lakers return to New Orleans on April 9.

Hornets point guard Chris Paul married his longtime girlfriend, Jada Crawley, this past Saturday in Charlotte, N.C.

A number of teammates and celebrities attended the wedding, including the Miami Heat’s LeBron James and his girlfriend, Savannah Brinson, New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and his wife, LaLa, and Heat star Dwyane Wade and his girlfriend, Gabrielle Union.

Hornets General Manager Dell Demps and Coach Monty Williams also attended — with league permission. The league is in a work stoppage that forbids team personnel from having contact with players without league consent.

There were no reports of Paul predicting a formation of a big three involving himself, Anthony and Amare Stoudemire with the New York Knicks as he did last year during a toast at Anthony’s wedding reception in New York.

Paul can opt out of his contract with the Hornets after the 2011-12 season.

Paul’s brother, C.J., tweeted: “I had a ball yesterday. Congrats to my lil brother CP3 and his wife, Jada. We partied last night so hard!”

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John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3407.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The New Orleans Hornets will open the 2011-12 regular season at home with a midweek game on Nov. 2 against the Chicago Bulls, if a labor disagreement between the players and owners is settled.

The Hornets play five of their first eight games in the New Orleans Arena, including a matchup against the Miami Heat, the Eastern Conference champions, on Nov. 9 before beginning a five-game road swing.

The team’s first road game is on Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Sacramento Kings.

Also on tap are two home games against the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, Dec. 21, and Saturday, Jan. 21; the lone home match-up against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, Dec. 28, and the season’s final home game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, April 15.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

New Orleans’ management and fans knew that the union of Miami’s Big Three wasn’t a positive for the Hornets from the second that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh agreed to unite.

And now, even more than last summer, there’s reason to be concerned. Because back then, at least, there wasn’t any tangible evidence that the partnership would amount to anything more than headlines.

Now, the move has to be considered relevant by almost every other ringless NBA star who feels he doesn’t have enough help to get it done, and doesn’t believe the right kind of aid is on the way.

Ringless stars like Hornets point guard Chris Paul.

Paul is a self-described “basketball junkie.” So you absolutely have to know that he’s watching every minute of the Eastern Conference finals, and has seen Miami take its commanding 3-1 series lead entering tonight’s Game 5 against Chicago. It’s only logical to assume that he wonders if he can do what James, Wade and Bosh are doing — if he can partner with another couple of NBA stars and make a run for an NBA title.

And that’s a chilling thought in New Orleans, even now while temperatures rise to the point where we are little more than human pools of sweat.

But that’s the sober reality.

The Hornets have Paul under contract for one more season. It was why the drama from last summer was nothing more than hollow talk: The Hornets had no incentive to move Paul, even if he was disillusioned by the direction of the franchise, because he had no hammer to swing.

He couldn’t threaten to walk away and leave the team empty-handed, because he had two years remaining and couldn’t refuse to perform because the damage to his reputation would have been irreparable. Plus, it was unimaginable that he’d be bush enough to give less than his best. He’s too prideful to not play hard and well and make the Hornets respectable.

Now, though, the still-ownerless franchise might be dependant upon a new, not-yet-negotiated collective bargaining agreement, which may or may not include some kind of “franchise player” designation, in order to hold on to its star point guard longer than another season.

But nothing that happens in the future, in an agreement that hasn’t been negotiated, can prevent Paul this summer from seeing and dreaming, the former because he’s highly observant and the latter because he’s flesh and blood.

There’s no way he can’t be at least a little jealous as he watches two of his buddies, James and Wade, help the Heat run through playoff opponent after playoff opponent, en route to a collective 11-3 record against Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago.

And if he’s envious, surely it will cross his mind that it would be easier to accomplish the ultimate goal of hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy if he can become part of a Big Three in New York, Los Angeles, Orlando or somewhere else if he, and the Hornets, can’t lure that caliber of talent to New Orleans.

In Year One of the pairing in Miami, the Heat is a victory from advancing to the NBA Finals, where it will be favored to win. So Paul, and others who similarly might be interested in pooling their resources, have reason to believe that such linking quickly can yield results.

That’s not to say everyone will choose that route, and certainly a new collective bargaining agreement might tamp down such movement.

But it’s difficult to blame players for playing by the collective bargaining rules and taking advantage of them at the appropriate time, which is what James and Bosh did in moving to Miami from Cleveland and Toronto.

It’s tough to harbor ill will for a guy who gives seven or more standout years to a franchise and fan base, decides he has a better chance of winning a title elsewhere, and leaves as a free agent.

Bottom line, that’s what happened in Miami with James and Bosh (Wade stayed put with the Heat). And when they moved, it obviously caught the attention of everyone in the league, especially franchises that soon would have players at similar points in their careers and desires.

It wasn’t great news for the Hornets last summer, before they’d actually won a playoff series.

It’s worse news now, with them on the brink of advancing to the NBA Finals.

John DeShazier can be reached at jdeshazier@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3410.