The NBA’s Christmas Day schedule showcases the league’s marquee matchups between stars and rivals, with several interesting storylines this year. The league has featured games with the best teams and players on Christmas Day since its second season in 1947. The defending NBA champion has participated in the event ever year since 1995 (excluding the 1998 lockout when no games on Christmas took place).
NBA Christmas Day Games For The 2024-25 Season Revealed
The NBA’s Christmas Day games set for December 25, 2024, have been revealed by league insider Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium and are as follows:
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San Antonio Spurs at New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden
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Minnesota Timberwolves at Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center
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Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics at the TD Garden
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Los Angeles Lakers at Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center
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Denver Nuggets at Phoenix Suns at the Footprint Center
Among the last five NBA champions, only the 2021 champion Milwaukee Bucks did not receive a Christmas Day game this year. This is despite featuring stars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
2024 NBA Christmas Day Games storylines
The first game of the day will feature Spurs star Victor Wembanyama’s first Christmas Day NBA game in the bright lights of Madison Square Garden. The 20-year-old is coming off a successful and much-hyped rookie campaign. He was the unanimous winner of the Rookie of the Year award. Meanwhile, the Knicks have emerged as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, thanks to Jalen Brunson’s rise as an All-Star. They have also added another former Villanova Wildcat to their lineup in Mikal Bridges.
The second game will feature a rematch of the 2024 Western Conference Finals. Dallas defeated Minnesota in five games during last season’s playoffs, winning three of those games by five points or less. Mavericks guard Luka Dončić and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards are among the best players in the league. The Wolves also feature reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
Previous NBA Champions get their Christmas Day Matchups
The third game of this year’s Christmas slate will feature the defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, facing off against the new-look Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers have revamped their roster, adding seven players in free agency, including nine-time NBA All-Star forward Paul George. 2022-23 NBA MVP Joel Embiid will also look to make an impact against the Celtics star core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday.
The penultimate game of the holiday will feature a star-studded matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors previously hosted the Lakers on Christmas in 2018 while still playing in Oakland at the Oracle Arena. This time, the game will be held at the state-of-the-art Chase Center, where two of the greatest players of this generation, LeBron James and Stephen Curry, will face off once again. This will be the fifth Christmas Day matchup between the two dating back to the infamous Warriors-Cavaliers rivalry in the mid 2010s. It follows their pairing up with Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where they displayed immense camaraderie.
The final game of the evening will feature the reigning NBA MVP, Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets taking on the top-heavy Phoenix Suns, which include Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. The two teams faced each other in the second round of the playoffs during the Nuggets 2023 title run. Denver won the series in six games. Phoenix was the team that gave them the most trouble after Denver’s prior first-round matchup against Minnesota ended in five games. The Nuggets swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals and then went on to win the NBA Finals against the Heat in five games.
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