The Memphis Grizzlies are moving on to be part of the NBA roster for Christmas Day for the first time.
Ja Morante He will face the Grizzlies Stephen CurryAnd the Klay Thompson and the rest of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Dec. 25 in San Francisco, a source familiar with the league’s schedule plans told The Associated Press.
The Grizzlies were one of two current NBA franchises to not play a game on December 25. The Charlotte Hornets are now the only club still waiting for their first invitation to the Christmas table.
The rest of the Christmas schedule will face Philadelphia New York, Milwaukee meet Boston, Los Angeles Lakers play Dallas and Phoenix and face the two-time MVP. Nikola Jokic and Denver Nuggets.
Athletic was the first to report the full Christmas Day game lineup. The NBA is expected to release the full season schedule later this week. The season starts on October 18th. Training camps open in late September.
If the Lakers LeBron James — the all-time scoring leader on Christmas, who enters the season with 1,325 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in NBA history — appears in that game on December 25 against the Mavericks, and it will be the 17th time he has played on the holiday. This will break the tie with Lakers player Kobe Bryant more than ever.
Golden State and Memphis met in the second round of the playoffs last season, as did Milwaukee and Boston.
This will mark the fifth year in a row that Christmas — again, except for a belated change — does not feature a rematch of the NBA Finals. Golden State Boston topped last season’s championship. There hasn’t been a final rematch on December 25 since the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers played in the 2017-18 season, en route to their fourth consecutive game in the title series.
Notably absent from the Christmas table: Kevin Durant The Brooklyn Nets. Durant told The Nets in June that he wanted to trade elsewhere, and he repeated that request earlier this month.
Dallas will host the Christmas game for the second time. The first was in 2011, after the Mavericks topped the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals the previous season. James and Heat spoiled the Mavericks’ opening game of the season, winning 105-94.
The Lakers will play on Christmas for the 24th consecutive year, the longest run in the league. Golden State will appear for the 10th time in a row at Christmas, Boston for the seventh time in a row and Milwaukee for the fifth time in a row on December 25.
New York plays at Christmas for the 55th time, increasing its record.
Of the eight teams that made it to the conference semifinals last season, seven appeared on this year’s Christmas table. The exception is Miami, seeded in the Eastern Conference last season, who fell to Boston in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
With the Memphis now having a game on December 25, the longest Christmas drought alongside Charlotte belongs to Sacramento (the last Christmas game of 2003), Indiana (2004), Detroit (2005) and Orlando (2011).
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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