NBA Releases 2025 Christmas Day Lineup Highlighting Thunder-Spurs and Rockets-Lakers
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The NBA’s 2025 Christmas Day schedule will showcase five games, the league confirmed on August 8 after a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania. Four of the matchups feature Western Conference clubs, with the slate opening on the East Coast.
Game 1: The Cleveland Cavaliers face the New York Knicks in the lone Eastern Conference contest, pairing teams projected to top the East. It marks Cleveland’s first Christmas appearance since the 2017/18 season and its first without LeBron James.
Game 2: San Antonio travels to Oklahoma City as rookie standout Victor Wembanyama meets Chet Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams in a Spurs-Thunder clash.
Game 3: Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets take on LeBron James, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers. Houston last played on Christmas in 2019.
Game 4: The Dallas Mavericks meet the Golden State Warriors, setting up a prime-time matchup between Luka Doncic’s current and former conference rivals.
Imagem: Eli Cohen via hoopsrumors.com
Game 5: The holiday schedule closes with the Minnesota Timberwolves against the retooled Denver Nuggets in a Northwest Division showdown.
As noted by reporter Marc Stein, a Mavericks-Lakers game was omitted from both the Christmas and Opening Night slates; the two teams are expected to meet during the NBA Cup in late November instead. Law Murray of The Athletic added that the Celtics, Pacers and Clippers—each winners of at least 49 games last season—were left off the Christmas lineup. Boston and Indiana are projected to slide while key players recover from Achilles injuries, and the Clippers will miss the holiday stage for a fifth consecutive year.
Source: Hoops Rumors
