A list of the most-watched NBA Christmas Day games dating back to 1991, featuring LeBron, Kobe and Jordan and a surprise in the #1 spot.
Most-watched NBA Christmas Day games (dating back to 1991)
#10: 2018 Lakers at Warriors (8:00 pm, ABC/ESPN): 10.21 million viewers
The only game between LeBron James’ Lakers and the Kevin Durant-era Warriors delivered a combined audience of 10.21 million viewers across ABC and ESPN. Best remembered for James’ groin injury that derailed the Lakers season, it was the final meeting between James and Durant for nearly five years. Despite the James injury, the rest of the Lakers — at the time, that included Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram — not only defeated the two-time defending champion Warriors, but did so in a rout.
#9: 1997 Heat at Bulls (5:30 pm, NBC): 10.58 million
Michael Jordan’s final Christmas Day game was an Eastern Conference Finals rematch against the Heat. The 1997 ECF was hardly memorable and neither was the Christmas rematch, as Chicago pulled away in the final minutes for a comfortable ten-point victory. Though one of the most-watched Christmas Day games on record, it was Jordan’s least-watched on the holiday during the Bulls championship years.
#8: 2011 Bulls at Lakers (5:00 pm, ABC): 11.01 million
With Christmas Day 2011 doubling as the opening day of the lockout-shortened season, viewership was particularly strong for all five games. Bulls-Lakers occupied the featured 5 PM ET window as such was the day’s biggest draw with an average of 11.01 million viewers. Reigning MVP Derrick Rose led the Bulls to a narrow victory over Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
#7: 2015 Cavaliers at Warriors (5:00 pm, ABC): 11.17 million
The first of three-straight Christmas games between the Cavaliers and Warriors was also the most-watched, averaging 11.17 million viewers. (A big reason for that is it was the only one of their Christmas meetings to avoid NFL competition.) The defending champion Warriors entered the game 27-1 and held Cleveland at bay down the stretch. Including the playoffs, Golden State would win five of its first six games against the Cavaliers in the 2015-16 season.
#6: 1996 Pistons at Bulls (8:30 pm, NBC): 11.32 million
The NBA pushed Grant Hill and the young Detroit Pistons hard in the late 1990s, culminating in their selection as the Bulls’ opponent on Christmas Day 1996. The league’s choice proved prescient as Detroit entered the night at 20-5, second only to 24-3 Chicago for the best record in the league. The action on the court nonetheless failed to live up to the potential, with Detroit falling behind by as many as 17 points en route to a comfortable Bulls win. Even so, viewership was the highest for a Christmas game in three years.
#5: 1992 Knicks at Bulls (9:00 pm, NBC): 13.06 million
In a rematch of their seven-game 1992 semifinal series, and a prelude to its sequel in the 1993 conference finals, the Bulls and Knicks squared off in a highly-anticipated matchup on Christmas 1992. The Knicks whipped the Bulls by 37 points less than a month earlier — the biggest loss of Jordan’s career to that point — and took a ten-point lead into the second quarter before the Bulls turned things around with a dominant second half. Despite the markets, the stars, and the hype, viewership actually declined nine percent from the previous year.
#4: 2010 Heat at Lakers (5:00 pm, ABC): 13.14 million
The Miami Heat “Big Three” of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh moved the ratings needle like few teams in NBA history. With James becoming publicly enemy #1 for his departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers — and not just within the sports niche — Miami was arguably the biggest villain the NBA has ever seen (the “Bad Boys” Pistons certainly have an argument, but people did not tune in just to watch them lose as with Miami). In their first Christmas matchup, they faced Kobe Bryant and the defending champion Lakers in what the league desperately hoped was a Finals preview (it was not). As one would imagine given the stars and stakes, Miami’s comfortable win delivered the largest Christmas audience since a matchup of the same teams six years earlier.
#3: 2004 Heat at Lakers (3:00 pm, ABC): 13.18 million
Prior to landing LeBron James in 2010, the biggest acquisition in Miami Heat history was Shaquille O’Neal. After eight years and three championships in Los Angeles, Shaq requested a trade from the Lakers in 2004 and was sent to Miami. If it were that simple, there would be little to discuss on the ratings side. Instead, O’Neal’s departure was the culmination of a years-long grudge with Lakers teammate Bryant that had grown increasingly bitter and personal over the prior year. In the lead-up to their Christmas Day matchup, O’Neal spent weeks lambasting Bryant. With ESPN and ABC providing exhaustive hype and the game going down to the final seconds, Miami’s narrow win delivered the NBA’s largest Christmas Day audience in 11 years with 13.18 million.
#2: 1991 Celtics at Bulls (9:00 pm, NBC): 14.33 million
With the Celtics still featuring Larry Bird and the Bulls boasting newly-minted champion Michael Jordan, it should be no surprise that the teams’ 1991 Christmas Day meeting delivered one of the NBA’s largest audiences on the holiday. More than 14 million viewers tuned in for a Chicago rout in which Bird and Jordan combined for a mere 22 points on 10-24 shooting. Scottie Pippen led the Bulls with 27 points and a young Rick Fox led the Celtics with 21 off the bench.
#1: 1993 Magic at Bulls (8:30 pm, NBC): 15.35 million
One would expect the most-watched NBA Christmas Day game to have featured the 1990s Chicago Bulls, but the Jordan-less 1993-94 squad? Indeed, just weeks after Jordan’s first retirement, the rest of the Bulls played in front of 15.35 million television viewers against second-year superstar Shaquille O’Neal and the Magic. Was it the Shaq effect? Was Jordan’s drawing power so immense that the Bulls remained popular in his absence? No and no. Credit, as is often the case, is due to the National Football League. Magic-Bulls aired immediately following an Oilers-49ers game that averaged more than 26 million viewers, marking the only NBA Christmas Day game to have had a direct lead-in from the NFL.
