LeBron James made his Christmas debut in 2003. Victor Wembanyama was born 10 days later.
That’s right: James has been around the NBA’s big day longer than Wembanyama has been alive. And on Wednesday – when the league celebrates Christmas for the 77th time with games – the league’s oldest player and brightest young star will be a big part of the Christmas show.
It’s another five-way Christmas matchup, with Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs visiting the New York Knicks, Minnesota heading to Dallas for a rematch of the Western Conference finals, Philadelphia heading to Boston to renew a legendary rivalry, James and the Los Angeles Lakers take on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and Denver plays at Phoenix in the nightcap.
“Very excited of course,” said Wembanyama, as the French star previewed his first chance at a Christmas match. “First of all, spending Christmas in New York will be just like in the movies, I hope. Get some snow.”
His first Christmas wish came true: light snow fell in Manhattan on Tuesday morning.
James said he relished another chance to share the Christmas spotlight with Curry – someone he has played against three times before at Christmas.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to be on the field and compete against one of the best players to ever play this game, you don’t take it for granted,” James – who turns 40 next week – said about facing his American Olympic teammate. “I don’t know how many more chances we’ll get to compete against each other.”
For decades, the Christmas Games have been seen as the time when more fans start watching basketball. The NFL – which takes on the NBA on Wednesday – will see its regular season come to an end and the five NBA games will all be shown nationally on ABC or ESPN.
The Spurs-Knicks game will also feature a special alt cast starring Mickey Mouse and some of his friends, the first animated presentation of an NBA game. The film will be shown on ESPN2 and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+.
“I wish more of our great players had the opportunity to play on that stage on Christmas Day,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “It’s certainly been an interesting turnaround from my earlier days in the league, when we got a lot of complaints about playing at Christmas – and now it’s coming the other way, which is, ‘Why aren’t we playing at Christmas?’ I wish we could accommodate even more teams.”
Knicks forward Josh Hart, like almost everyone in the basketball world, is excited about Wembanyama. The Spurs star is averaging 24.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.0 blocks, 3.9 assists and 3.3 three-pointers per game.
“He’s a great player, man,” Hart said. “He does things offensively and defensively that no one 7-whatever-he-is should do. He is the future of the league.”
For the record, Wembanyama is officially just under 7 feet tall.
The Knicks will play their 57th Christmas game, extending their NBA record. The first Christmas game in the league’s history took place at Madison Square Garden in 1947.
“I was fortunate enough to get to play a lot of days at Christmas,” Spurs guard Chris Paul said. “I’m excited.”
Game time is 1:30 PM in Dallas, which means it’s 8:30 PM in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prime time, Christmas night in Luka Dončić’s home country.
The Mavericks star couldn’t be happier with how that turned out.
“It’s special,” said Dončić, who had a 50-point game at Christmas last year. “There are a lot of people from Europe who want to watch the NBA. … It’s a big thing. It will be a special match.”
Dallas beat Minnesota 4-1 in the West final last year.
For Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, this season is No. 18 – and his second Christmas game.
“It took me 14 years to get to play it in Utah,” Conley said. “I was looking forward to the opportunity. Not many people get the chance to play. When people celebrate the holidays, they turn on the TV and watch the NBA.”
No team in NBA history has played each other more than defending champion Boston and Philadelphia. The same goes for the Christmas rivalry: on December 25 it will be the Celtics-76ers for the 14th time, by far the most in the league.
Celtics guard Jrue Holiday said it’s hard to interrupt family time at Christmas, but also said it’s nice that his kids get to watch their dad play that day.
“It’s an honor to be able to play on Christmas Day,” Holiday said. “I know I was one of the kids who couldn’t wait for the Christmas plays to start. So it’s always an honor.”
Curry and James met on Christmas in 2015, 2016 and 2018, all immediately following seasons that ended with Cleveland versus Golden State playing in the NBA Finals.
Lakers coach JJ Redick has played Christmas 11 times in his career. The importance of seeing another match between Steph and LeBron during the holidays is not lost on him.
“I think it was great to have two of the icons of this generation go head-to-head and have one, definitely, classic series and then also some classic games and classic moments,” Redick said. “For those guys who are also teammates on the Olympic stage, they just have the ultimate respect for each other.”
James will have another chance to become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader: He has reached 10 wins as of Dec. 25, tying former teammate Dwyane Wade’s holiday record. This is James’ 19th Christmas play; Wade played in 13.
If he starts, Curry will be the seventh person in NBA history with at least 11 starts by Dec. 25, joining James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Wade, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
“The Christmas spirit can hopefully bring us some gifts with a win,” Curry said.
Durant is playing for the twelfth time on Christmas, and only James, Bryant and Oscar Robertson have more points than him on December 25.
It’s a repeat of a 117-90 win over Denver on Monday night.
“I’m looking forward to the next game,” Durant said.
The Nuggets know the Suns will want to avenge their loss by 27, and that the holidays bring out the best in players.
“Hopefully we can go into their spot on Christmas and get another win,” Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said. “But I’m sure it will be a more difficult match.”