A Finals fracas opens the 2026 NBA Christmas slate, which could also feature LeBron James facing off against his son.
Early this week, the NBA ensured its fans would have a very happy holiday.
Part one of the Association's 2026-27 schedule reveal was the matchups for its opening night and Christmas Day slate, the latter being a five-game showing that opens with a NBA Finals rematch between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.
Another Eastern Conference tilt between Boston and Miami surfaces thereafter before an interconference clash has the rebooted Philadelphia 76ers heading West to face the Los Angeles Lakers. The Western Conference dominates the night shift, as the Oklahoma City Thunder takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves before those who went to bed early waiting for Santa the night before are rewarded with the Denver Nuggets going up against the Golden State Warriors.
With the NBA going up against the NFL on modern Christmases, fans have had to be more prudent than ever in their Yuletide viewing habits. So which games linger in undeniable can't-miss territory? We rank the festive five below ...
5. Denver at Golden State
10:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
Seeing the modern Warriors in a Christmas slot feels like Hollywood trying to force another "Home Alone" movie onto the beleaguered public: the franchise's time has come, gone, come again, and any attempt to keep it rolling just feels rather sad.
Granted, Stephen Curry, unlike Macaulay Culkin, has stuck around for the lean times, so it should be worth seeing what sort of Christmas magic he has left. Somehow Curry doesn't own the record for most three-pointers on the holiday (four behind the 32 sunk by LeBron James) so that could be worth keeping an eye on. Combine that with the dominant indifference Nikola Jokic has become renowned for, and it feels like this matchup is well-buried as the late, late show.
4. Oklahoma City at Minnesota
8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
A primetime clash between the Thunder and Timberwolves feels like the league found a note that has been wedged behind a cabinet over the last year. Oklahoma City remained mostly intact beyond trading Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins but the Timberwolves loses the flair of both Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle due to a respective injury and trade.
It feels like a lot of stock is being placed in both OKC hate-watching (no doubt fueled by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander supposedly asking for whistles for Christmas) and Anthony Edwards' continued development as a superstar. If anything, it's nice to see the Wolves establish some form of Christmas residency, as a third consecutive appearance on the holiday after going fully without during their first 27 years of existence is a humbly nice story on the Association ledgers. Whether all that and more is enough to draw eyes away from the NFL's roast beast of a Rams-Seahawks matchup remains to be seen, but it's certainly a worthy contender for primetime fare.
3. Miami at Boston
2:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
The Association stuck with familiar faces for this Christmas slate: the Heat had the longest holiday drought of any of the ten teams partaking, last earning the Christmas privilege in 2023. Giannis Antetokounmpo's arrival was enough to grant South Beach a "Καλά Χριστούγεννα" and they'll take on a familiar foe in the drastically different Celtics.
Being on this slate is enough of a reward for the Celtics as is: the medically-induced absence of Jayson Tatum and the departures of several contributors from the 2024 championship squad kept them off of last year's holiday slate, but a respectable output in the early going (not to mention the inclusion of a woebegone Dallas Mavericks in the middle slot) had them engaging in Yuletide remorse. Of course, the Celtics are now in the same "prove it" situation all over again with Jaylen Brown now repping the Philadelphia juggernaut, so Christmas may be the right time to formally re-introduce themselves to the picture of contention.
It feels like this game could be a classic or clunker with no in-between, but the Boston-Miami rivalry has hardly disappointed in its prior iterations. For all the major matchups between the two coastal rivals, Christmas was one of the few uncharted areas for this pairing so it'd be wise to expect their holiday bests to emerge.
THE CHRISTMAS DAY SPORTS SCHEDULE IS INCREDIBLE 😱🎄 pic.twitter.com/iD8NHJFBUt
— DraftKings Sports (@DKSports) August 11, 2026
2. Philadelphia at LA Lakers
5 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
Christmas, of course, is all about coming home. James won't be able to go full Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoon but he'll return to one of his more recent haunts when his new employers battle his previous workspace. Barring injury, James will partake in his record-extending 21st game on Christmas.
This homecoming likely won't hold the vitriol that his first foray back into Cleveland had back in 2010, but Lakers fans likely won't take kindly to James' offseason extravaganza that immediately omitted a return to the purple-and-gold. By this point, it should be clear exactly where this Laker team is heading with Luka Doncic at the helm and all eyes will be on their decision to essentially place the future in his grasp rather than James'.
The way rosters are currently constructed creates a scenario that's just begging for a Christmas movie script: for the time being, James' son Bronny remains stationed on the Laker roster, which could create a case of split sweaters in the royal family come tip-off.
1. San Antonio at New York
12 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN
Basketball fans must've been pretty good this year, because the powers that be in the NBA scheduling department saved the best for first on Christmas Day.
A rematch of the NBA Finals used to be a staple of the of Christmas itinerary but such a strategy had gone out of style: this will be the first time that the defending finalists renew pleasantries on Christmas since 2017, when Golden State hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers in a get-together of the past, present, and future down by the Bay.
It's easy to see why the NBA broke recent precedent this time around: the Knicks and Spurs treated the hardwood-loving public to five classic games in their Finals fracas earlier this spring/summer with the festivities culminating in New York's first (men's) basketball postseason championship commemoration in over five decades. The Christmas rematch returns to Madison Square Garden, the site of one of the finest heists this side of The Grinch's holiday haunt, as the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit to earn a Game 4 victory capped off by OG Anunoby's timely tip.
Those well-versed in tales of the glories of Christmases (not so) long, long ago were hardly shocked that the Knicks and Spurs provided daring dramatics: the teams previously clashed on Christmas in 2024, which saw the Knicks earn a 117-114 triumph under MSG's iconic roof. Victor Wembanyama put up a 42-point, 18-rebound effort but that wasn't enough to counter 41 tallies from Mikal Bridges, the most by any Christmas-competing Knick beyond Bernard King's 60-point effort against New Jersey in 1984.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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