It’s Christmas in August! The NBA reminded fans of its existence on Friday by leaking the schedules for both Opening Night and Christmas, and they both come with the requisite amount of star power for these marquee slates. There will once again be five games on Christmas, which will give us a glimpse at superstars like LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama.
Merry Christmas, indeed.
Each matchup presents its own reasons for excitement, but there are always a couple of games that stand out above the rest. Obviously a lot can change by the time Dec. 25 rolls around — especially in a league where trades and injuries can drastically change the landscape. All we can do is go with the rosters as they currently stand and hope that everyone remains healthy.
With that in mind, we’ve decided to look ahead and rank all five of the NBA’s Christmas matchups.
On paper, this could legitimately be the most entertaining game of the day. Unfortunately, it suffers from being the last game on a holiday when half the country is going to be asleep by tipoff. That takes some of the luster out of an otherwise mouthwatering matchup between Anthony Edwards and Nikola Jokić.
There’s no love lost between these teams after the Wolves shocked the Nuggets in Game 7 on their home floor two postseasons ago, so you can expect Edwards to be spouting his usual brand of trash talk and Jokić to be doing the same thing in an indecipherable mumble. Denver made some meaningful offseason additions in Cameron Johnson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valančiūnas, and this will be a great opportunity to see how everything fits.
Klay Thompson back in the Bay is always a special occasion, but there’s also a chance that these teams will be … not that good? The Warriors lit the league on fire after acquiring Jimmy Butler last season, but there’s no telling whether they can keep that going with an aging roster and no meaningful offseason additions — not yet, at least. If Steph Curry is healthy, however, he’s well worth watching while you pile up the turkey and stuffing on your fourth plate of the day.
Not to mention that this will be potential franchise savior Cooper Flagg‘s first Christmas Day appearance, and seeing how he and Anthony Davis mesh will be intriguing. Overall a fun matchup, but it just doesn’t stack up to the others.
The clash between two of the NBA’s top five offenses from a season ago should provide the necessary fireworks for a juicy Christmas Day meeting. The teams also match up well, with the individual battles of Jalen Brunson versus Donovan Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns versus Evan Mobley taking center stage.
The Cavs won all four matchups against the Knicks last season, helping to spur the sentiment that New York couldn’t beat good teams, so there should be peak intensity for this one. This could easily wind up being the best game of the entire slate, but the fact that it’s likely going to start at 9 a.m. Pacific Time has to drop it down the rankings a tick. Get out of here with your East Coast bias.
Wemby versus the defending champs? Count me in. Victor Wembanyama may be at the very top of the league’s must-watch list, and he’ll be battling against what should once again be the best defense in the NBA. Not to mention that reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s penchant for getting into the paint will be greatly tested with the 7-foot-3 wonder waiting for him at the rim.
On top of the star power, this should be an important matchup for the Spurs, who are expected to take a leap next season with a hopefully healthy Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox and highly touted prospect Dylan Harper. How they play against the OKC machine on the regular season’s biggest stage (no offense, NBA Cup) will give them an indication of where they stand as they look to make a playoff push.
Look, I can feel the eye rolls through the screen. People will (unfairly) complain of Laker bias and (rightfully) point out that better basketball might be played in some of the other matchups. But this is Christmas in the National Basketball Association. We need star power, and this game is dripping with it.
LeBron. KD. LaRavia. Luka. What else do you need for a marquee holiday matchup?
While both teams are flawed, by Christmas they should be in the thick of the Western Conference’s “race to second place” behind the Thunder — especially if Dončić’s conditioning remains at the level we’ve seen this summer. Ultimately, however, we don’t know how many more matchups between LeBron James and Kevin Durant we’ll see in our lifetime, so it’s best we appreciate this one.