The NBA’s highly anticipated Christmas Day schedule has been revealed, courtesy of ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter). The slate of five games is heavy on Western Conference powerhouses, with just one game coming from the Eastern Conference, in a matchup of what is expected to be the top two teams in the Cavaliers and Knicks.
This will be the first Christmas Day game for the Cavaliers in the post-LeBron James era, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Their most recent Christmas appearance was during the 2017/18 season.
Following the Eastern Conference kickoff, the Spurs will travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder, as Victor Wembanyama faces off against Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams.
Kevin Durant and the Rockets will then duel LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers in a clash of teams balancing championship aspirations with their Hall-of-Fame veterans and younger future-facing casts. The Rockets last played a Christmas game in 2019, writes Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle.
The final two matchups of the night will see the Mavericks face off against the Warriors, and finally, the Timberwolves going up against the retooled Nuggets in a battle of Northwest Division powerhouses.
As Marc Stein notes (via Twitter), between the Christmas Day schedule and the just-revealed Opening Night schedule, the league has chosen not to highlight a Mavericks-Lakers matchup on either of these two anticipated dates. Instead, Stein reports (via Twitter), the battle of Doncic’s past and present will likely occur at the end of November during the NBA Cup.
Law Murray of the Athletic notes (via Twitter) that only three teams that won at least 49 games last season aren’t featured on the Christmas Day slate: the Celtics and Pacers, both of which are expected to take a step back as their stars recover from Achilles tears, and the Clippers, who will not play on Christmas for the fifth year in a row.