NBA Christmas Games: Lebron James and Victor Wembanyama are the top quintupleheaders

WASHINGTON – LeBron James made his Christmas debut in 2003. Victor Wembanyama was born 10 days later.

That’s right: James has been there for the NBA’s big day longer than Wembanyama was still alive. And on Wednesday – when the league celebrates Christmas with games for the 77th year – the league’s oldest player and brightest young star will play an important role in the holiday display.

It’s another Christmas quintupleheader: Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs visit the New York Knicks, Minnesota travels to Dallas for a rematch in the Western Conference finals, Philadelphia travels to Boston to renew a storied rivalry, James and the Los Angeles Lakers face Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors and Denver, who play in the nightcap at Phoenix.

“Very excited, of course,” Wembanyama said as the French star previewed his first Christmas game. “First of all, I hope that spending Christmas in New York will be like a movie. Get some snow.”

His first Christmas wish came true: light snow fell in Manhattan on Tuesday morning.

James said he’s excited for another chance to share the holiday spotlight with Curry – someone he’s played against three times on Christmas.

“Any time you get the opportunity to be on the pitch and go up against one of the greatest players in the game, you can’t take it for granted,” James – who turns 40 next week – said of facing his American counterpart Olympic teammates “I don’t know how many more opportunities we’ll have to compete against each other.”

For decades, Christmas games have been considered the time when more fans tend to watch basketball. The NFL’s regular season, which faces the NBA on Wednesday, is coming to a close and the five NBA games will all be shown nationally on either ABC or ESPN.

The Spurs-Knicks game will also feature a special alternate cast featuring Mickey Mouse and some of his friends, the first animated presentation of an NBA game. It will be shown on ESPN2 and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+.

“I wish there were more of our great players who had the chance to play on this stage on Christmas Day,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “It was certainly an interesting turnaround compared to my earlier days in the league when we had a lot of them.” Complaints about playing on Christmas – and now it’s going the other way: “Why aren’t we playing on Christmas?” I wish we could accommodate more teams.”

Knicks forward Josh Hart, like almost everyone in the basketball world, raves about Wembanyama. The Spurs star averages 24.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.0 blocks, 3.9 assists and 3.3 3-pointers per game.

“He’s a great player, man,” Hart said. “He does things offensively and defensively that no one should be doing when they’re 7 years old – whatever they are. He is the future of the league.”

As a reminder, Wembanyama is officially 7-foot-4.

The Knicks play their 57th Christmas game and extend their NBA record. The first Christmas game in league history was played at Madison Square Garden in 1947.

“I was lucky enough to get to play a lot of days on Christmas,” Spurs guard Chris Paul said. “I’m excited.”

Game time is 1:30 p.m. in Dallas, which means it will be 8:30 p.m. in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prime time, Christmas night in Luka Doncic’s homeland.

The Mavericks star couldn’t be happier with how it worked out.

“It’s special,” said Doncic, who had a 50-point game on Christmas last year. “A lot of people from Europe want to watch the NBA. …It’s a big deal. It will be a special game.”

Dallas beat Minnesota 4-1 in the West final last year.

This is Timberwolves guard Mike Conley’s 18th season – and his second Christmas game.

“It took me 14 years to get to play on it in Utah,” Conley said. “I was looking forward to the opportunity. Not many people get the opportunity to play. When people celebrate the holidays, they turn on the TV and watch the NBA.”

No team in NBA history has faced each other more times than defending champions Boston and Philadelphia. The same goes for the Christmas rivalry: On December 25th, the Celtics and 76ers will meet for the 14th time, by far the most in the league.

Celtics guard Jrue Holiday says it’s hard to break up family time on Christmas – but also said it’s fun that his kids can 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 those kids who couldn’t wait for the Christmas games to start. So it’s always an honor.”

Curry and James met on Christmas Day in 2015, 2016 and 2018, immediately following the seasons that ended with Cleveland facing off against Golden State in the NBA Finals.

Lakers coach JJ Redick played on Christmas 11 times in his career. It’s not lost on him how important it is to see another matchup between Steph and LeBron this holiday.

“I think it was great to see two of the icons of this generation go head to head and definitely have a classic series and then some classic games and classic moments as well,” Redick said. “For these guys too, as teammates on the Olympic stage, they just have the utmost respect for each other.”

James gets another chance to become the NBA’s best Christmas win of all time: He has 10 wins as of December 25, tying former teammate Dwyane Wade’s holiday record. This is James’ 19th Christmas play; Wade played in 13.

If he starts, Curry would be the seventh player in NBA history with at least 11 starts as of Dec. 25, joining James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Wade, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

“Hopefully the Christmas spirit can bring us some presents with a win,” Curry said.

Durant will play for the 12th time on Christmas and only James, Bryant and Oscar Robertson have more points than him on December 25th.

It’s a repeat of a 117-90 win by Denver on Monday night.

“I’m looking forward to the next game,” Durant said.

The Nuggets know that the Suns want to avenge their 27-point loss and that the holiday brings out the best in the players.

“Hopefully we can take their place on Christmas and get another win,” said Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. “But I’m sure it will be a more difficult game.”