Next week, the 2025-26 NBA schedule will come out, but some of the highlights always tend to leak out first.
One of those is Christmas Day — a showcase day that has always featured the biggest names and best teams in the NBA. This Christmas will be no different, if the schedule reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania is correct (and it almost certainly is):
• Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks
• San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder
• Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers
• Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors
• Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets
Here are a few quick thoughts on that list:
• Once again the NBA has leaned into its older generation of stars — LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant — but it has done a better job of making sure the up-and-coming generation is in the spotlight, too. We are getting Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Edwards, Cooper Flagg, Amen Thompson, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Darius Garland. It’s better than past years, certainly better than recycling Giannis Antetokounmpo and a Bucks team with a lot of question marks just for the star power.
• There are only two Eastern Conference teams on that list, the opening game of the day between the Knicks and Cavaliers. What that speaks to is the perceived gap heading into this season between the deep West and the East in a season where Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton will not be playing on Christmas Day as they recover from torn Achilles (if those guys had been healthy and those teams didn’t try to save money by trading away or letting key players walk, the Celtics and Pacers would have been busy on Christmas).
• That Cavaliers vs. Knicks game might be the best game of the day.
• During last season’s NBA Finals, both the Thunder and Pacers cited not being invited to play on Christmas Day as motivation for them during the season. Which team could be that squad this year? Keep an eye on young star Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic, they should have been on the bubble for making it to this day. Cade Cunningham and Detroit, as well as Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, could also use this as fuel.
• Did the NBA miss an opportunity by having Luka Doncic’s current and former teams both playing on Christmas but not facing each other?
• Wembanyama and the Spurs against the defending champion Thunder could be the NBA’s best rivalry for the rest of this decade, putting in a prime slot on Christmas Day speaks to how the league office sees it that way.
