4 Obvious lessons from the eagerly awaited 2024-25 Christmas programme

Analyzing four key takeaways from the highly anticipated 2024-25 NBA Christmas schedule.

Every year, just before the official release of the regular season schedule, the NBA likes to tease curiosity by “leaking” some or, in some cases, all of its games on Christmas Day. It’s a tactic to get the conversation going ahead of the new season, which is still a few months away.

Although the 2024-25 NBA schedule has not been fully released, the highly anticipated Christmas Day schedule has leaked. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, these are the Christmas Day matchups:

– San Antonio Spurs @ New York Knicks
– Minnesota Timberwolves @ Dallas Mavericks
– Philadelphia 76ers @ Boston Celtics
– Los Angeles Lakers @ Golden State Warriors
– Denver Nuggets @ Phoenix Suns

This is certainly a good list of games, but you have to read between the lines here. In this article, we'll examine four obvious observations we can make from the NBA's Christmas Day schedule.

Although both LeBron James and Steph Curry are nearing the “end” of their respective careers in the NBA, the league has made it clear that they are both still an important part of the Association. In many ways, even with the young rising stars, LeBron and Steph are still the faces of the league. Considering what happened for the U.S. basketball team during the Olympics, that's hard to argue with.

Both LeBron and Steph were awarded a Christmas Day game despite there being no guarantee that either of their teams would play well this season. That says a lot.