{"id":810930,"date":"2026-08-12T07:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810930\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:22:09","slug":"giannis-on-nba-christmas-day-return-havent-played-for-a-while","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810930\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis on NBA Christmas Day return: \u201cHaven\u2019t played for a while\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n

The Miami Heat<\/a> are returning to the NBA\u2019s prestigious Christmas Day lineup<\/a>, and their newly acquired superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, could not be more thrilled about the holiday showcase. The former champion and two-time Most Valuable Player shared his excitement during a media session on Tuesday, following the league\u2019s official schedule release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to be fun. I haven\u2019t played on Christmas for a while now. NBA, c\u2019mon now,\u201d he reflected on his return to the marquee December 25 slot.<\/p>\n

The Athens native expressed his enthusiasm for performing on such a grand stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just excited to give fans a little bit of excitement on Christmas Day,\u201d he continued. \u201cI also enjoy being at home with my kids during Christmas, but there\u2019s nothing better than a little kid opening his gift and then turning on the TV watching NBA games. So, I\u2019m excited for that. We\u2019re gonna put on a show. I\u2019m going to get a win too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Greek Freak is no stranger to the holiday spotlight, having previously anchored several memorable Christmas matchups during his 13-year tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He debuted in 2018 with a dominant 31-point, 14-rebound performance in a win over the New York Knicks<\/a>. After sitting out or navigating tough team losses in subsequent holiday appearances, including a 32-point effort in a 2023 loss to New York, Antetokounmpo completely missed the last two holiday editions. Now wearing a Miami uniform following his blockbuster summer trade, he is set to face a familiar holiday rival, the Boston Celtics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net The Miami Heat are returning to the NBA\u2019s prestigious Christmas Day lineup, and their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-810930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}