For the first time since 2018, LeBron James and Stephen Curry are reportedly set for a potential Christmas Day head-to-head.
The five-game NBA Christmas Day schedule will include James’ Lakers against Curry’s Warriors, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Thursday, marking the rivals’ first matchup on the holiday since 2018. The 2018 game, which James left midway through due to a season-altering groin injury, averaged more than ten million viewers — more than any Christmas game in the years since.
Assuming both are healthy, James and Curry will meet on Christmas for the fifth time overall after four-straight occurrences from 2015-18. Those four meetings rank among the ten most-watched Christmas games in the past 16 years.
The other Christmas games, per Charania, are Spurs-Knicks, Timberwolves-Mavericks, Sixers-Celtics and Nuggets-Suns.
Charania did not report any timeslots for the Christmas games, but it is almost certain that Lakers-Warriors will air in the 8 PM ET slot. The NFL has an afternoon doubleheader on Netflix at 1 and 4:30 PM ET, meaning that 8 and 10:30 PM are the only windows in which the NBA will not face NFL competition.
Nor did his report include any mention of network designations. Last season, only two of five Christmas games aired on ABC as the network had NFL commitments. Two years ago, ABC aired all five.
Since their last matchup on the holiday, James has played the Clippers, Mavericks (twice), Celtics and the Kevin Durant-era Nets on Christmas. The Warriors have played Houston and Memphis (both without Curry), the Bucks, Suns and Nuggets.
Update 8/12: In other scheduling news, Charania reported Monday that the Opening Night slate will consist of Knicks-Celtics and Timberwolves-Lakers.
