The NBA and Christmas Day
An annual tradition, with two prominent players.
Christmas afternoon and evening in the United States (4am on Boxing Day in Australia) will see millions of people tune in to the NBA’s five-game schedule, starting with the New York Knicks hosting Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
This game will be followed by the Dallas Mavericks hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Boston Celtics hosting the Philadelphia 76ers, the Golden State Warriors hosting the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Phoenix Suns hosting the Denver Nuggets. The five-game slate is two games short of tying the record for the most games played on Christmas Day, as seven games were played in 1949, 1971, and 1977.
2024 will be the 77th year the NBA has played games on Christmas Day, with the tradition starting in 1947 (the second year of the league) with the Knicks beating the Providence Steamrollers 89-75. There has been at least one game on Christmas Day each year since, with the exception of the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, when games didn’t start until February.
WATCH: Jingle Hoops – an NBA Christmas Carol
However, it took until the 1980s – when the Knicks played in a string of closely fought games against the Celtics and the New Jersey Nets – for the league to realise the (commercial) value in scheduling games featuring the best teams and players.
One consequence of this decision is that certain teams – and individuals – have appeared on Christmas Day much more often than others. This leads to some interesting and unusual statistics, which I’ll explore for the remainder of this post.
As mentioned earlier, the Knicks have been involved in Christmas Day games since the beginning. It’s therefore not surprising to see that they have made the most Christmas appearances in NBA history (56), the most consecutive Christmas appearances (38, 1950-1987), and have registered the most wins (24). However, they also have the most losses (32).
The Knicks have also scored the most points (5896) but hold the unwanted record for conceding the most points in a single game (162, against the Syracuse Nationals [who would later become the 76ers] in 1960). The 162-100 defeat that year is also the biggest blowout on Christmas Day.
The only other team with 50 or more Christmas Day appearances are the Lakers (50), who will play their 26th consecutive game (the current active record for consecutive appearances) against the Warriors.
It will also be the 18th consecutive Christmas game for veteran superstar LeBron James, the most for an individual player. James played on Christmas Day in his debut season with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 (a 12-point loss in overtime to the Orlando Magic) but then did not return until 2007 – and hasn’t missed since. Although it’s interesting to note that James has never played against the Knicks on Christmas day, which I find interesting.
James’ 17 Christmas appearances is equal to or more than 17 currently active NBA teams, as well as eight now-defunct teams. He shares the record for the most Christmas wins by an individual player (10) with former Miami Heat teammate Dwayne Wade.
LeBron has also scored more points on Christmas than any other player (476) – more than six currently active teams: the Indiana Pacers (395), the New Orleans Pelicans (366), Minnesota Timberwolves (221), the Toronto Raptors (196), the Memphis Grizzlies (109), and the Charlotte Hornets (0).
Another Laker legend, the late Kobe Bryant, has registered the most losses by an individual on Christmas (10), winning just six of his 16 Christmas games. (For comparison, Michael Jordan went 5-1 over his Christmas career).
More information of the NBA’s Christmas scoring leaders can be found here.
The timeframe of this stat is limited based on what data are freely/easily available and/or accessible. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you spot any errors in what I have presented.