{"id":364669,"date":"2025-12-23T22:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364669\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T22:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:35:08","slug":"nba-set-to-offer-up-annual-christmas-day-quintuple-header","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364669\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA set to offer up annual Christmas Day quintuple-header"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach JJ Redick, right, talks to Lebron James during the second half of a game against the Los Angeles Clippers this past Saturday in Inglewood, Calif.Jae C. Hong\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Jalen Williams\u2019 plan for Thursday is mapped out like this: Presents in the morning, then a game in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

To him, that sounds like an exceptional Christmas.<\/p>\n

Williams and the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder \u2013 who felt snubbed by the Christmas schedule-makers a year ago \u2013 are on the league\u2019s slate of showcase games this year, taking on the San Antonio Spurs as part of the annual Dec. 25 quintuple-header.<\/p>\n

The schedule, with all times Eastern: Cleveland at New York gets things started at noon, followed by the Spurs at the Thunder at 2:30 p.m., Dallas at Golden State at 5 p.m., Houston at the Los Angeles Lakers at 8 p.m. and Minnesota at Denver at 10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a basketball player, I feel like you grow up \u2013 actually, if you\u2019re a sports fan, you grow up watching sports on Christmas. To be able to be a part of it is really cool,\u201d Williams said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat time do we play, 1:30 [Central]? Yeah, we\u2019re like the cool game. Like, 1:30, presents have already been opened and everybody\u2019s kind of watching the games. I\u2019m really looking forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most of the Thunder, it\u2019ll be a first: The only current Oklahoma City players who have scored in a Christmas game are Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso. And it\u2019ll be the second Christmas game for San Antonio\u2019s Victor Wembanyama, whose holiday debut last year was a 42-point, 18-rebound effort against New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big day for the NBA and the guys are excited to play on that slate of games,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of 82 at the end of the day, but it is an elevated circumstance because of the attention on the game and the noise around it. Those are good experiences for any team and certainly for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For LeBron James, it will not be a first: If he plays Thursday with the Lakers, it\u2019ll be his 20th Christmas game. That\u2019s more than 17 current franchises have played in their existence.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama will take part in his second Christmas Day game on Thursday, when he and his teammates face the Oklahoma City Thunder.Ronda Churchill\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d much rather be at home with my family,\u201d James said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a game, it\u2019s the game I love, it\u2019s a game I watched when I was a kid on Christmas Day, watching a lot of the greatest play the game on Christmas. It\u2019s always been an honour to play it. I\u2019m going to be completely honest: I would like to be home on the couch with my family all throughout the day, but my number is called, our number is called so we have to go out and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

LeBron on Christmas<\/p>\n

James playing in his 20th Christmas game means the record books will need updating once again when this holiday slate is complete.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s already the all-time Christmas leader in games played, points (507), wins (11), field goals (180) and three-pointers made (31, tied with James Harden).<\/p>\n

Up next: assists, steals and free throws. James is currently second in Christmas assists with 137, eight behind Oscar Robertson. He\u2019s also second in steals with 28, two behind Russell Westbrook, and second in free throws made with 116 \u2013 nine behind Robertson on that list.<\/p>\n

James is sixth in Christmas rebounds with 143, one behind No. 5 Dolph Schayes, nine behind No. 4 Wilt Chamberlain and 12 behind No. 3 Shaquille O\u2019Neal. (No. 1 Bill Russell, with 176, and No. 2 Wes Unseld, with 163, are probably safe from James this year.)<\/p>\n

More about threes<\/p>\n

While James and Harden are tied atop the three-pointers made list, some other familiar names could rise with big efforts on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Dallas\u2019 Klay Thompson enters the day No. 3 on the list with 27 made threes on Christmas, one ahead of Golden State\u2019s Stephen Curry and Houston\u2019s Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n

Still waiting<\/p>\n

The Christmas wait goes on for some teams.<\/p>\n

Sacramento hasn\u2019t played on Dec. 25 since 2003, Indiana \u2013 which might have gotten the nod this year if Tyrese Haliburton didn\u2019t get hurt in Game 7 of the NBA finals \u2013 hasn\u2019t made the Christmas list since 2004 and Detroit hasn\u2019t since 2005.<\/p>\n

To put that into context, it should be noted that Seattle \u2013 which hasn\u2019t had a team in nearly two decades \u2013 played its last Christmas game in 2007, or more recently than the Kings, Pacers and Pistons have.<\/p>\n

Orlando hasn\u2019t played on Christmas since 2011, and Chicago hasn\u2019t since 2016. Meanwhile, Boston\u2019s nine-year streak of Christmas appearances comes to an end this year.<\/p>\n

On the other end of the spectrum, the Lakers are playing on Christmas for the 27th consecutive year and Golden State is playing on Christmas for a 13th consecutive season.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust excited for another big game on Christmas Day,\u201d Curry said Monday after the Warriors won their second straight to get to 15-15 on the season and go into the holiday with a bit of momentum. \u201cThe vibes are good right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welcome, kid<\/p>\n

Dallas\u2019 Cooper Flagg \u2013 who turned 19 this week \u2013 is set to make his Christmas debut.<\/p>\n

If Flagg plays, he\u2019ll be the fourth-youngest player to appear in a Christmas game. Kobe Bryant, Bill Willoughby and James were all 18 in their first Christmas contest.<\/p>\n

KD\u2019s Christmas travels<\/p>\n

Durant is set to play on Christmas for a fifth different team (and a sixth different jersey), which makes his holiday paths one of the most traveled in league history.<\/p>\n

Durant has also played on Christmas for Seattle and Oklahoma City, then Golden State, then Brooklyn, then Phoenix and on Thursday, the Rockets \u2013 the team he joined this past summer \u2013 get added to the list.<\/p>\n

Shaquille O\u2019Neal (Orlando, Lakers, Miami, Phoenix, Cleveland and Boston) played on Christmas for six teams. Among those who have played on the holiday with five franchises: Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony.<\/p>\n

Lots of West<\/p>\n

Of the 10 teams playing on Christmas this year, eight come from the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the most from one conference on Christmas since 1978, when the Eastern Conference saw eight of its then-11 teams picked to play on the holiday.<\/p>\n

The last time the East had more teams playing on Christmas than the West was 2004. Since then, including this year, the holiday schedule has seen an even East-West split 10 times and the West has seen more teams picked for the holiday slate on 11 occasions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach JJ Redick, right, talks to Lebron James during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,459,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-364669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-nba","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}