The NBA roster for Christmas Day is here and it's pretty shocking who didn't make it

With the NBA schedule officially released in a few days, we've had our first look at this year's Christmas schedule, which I always find fascinating. It's a great insight into how the league views certain teams/players, and the matchups they put on are almost always what they say they will be.

For the 2024-25 season, their selections are certainly interesting

Of course, the Knicks are playing at MSG, a Christmas Day classic. Of course, the defending champs are playing at home, which isn't too surprising. Even though they're both in the play-in, we only have so many Steph vs. LeBron moments left before they ride off into the sunset, so that's a no-brainer for the West Coast games. We have the two young rising stars in Ant vs. Luka in a WCF rematch that could have seeding implications. A Jokic vs. KD finish isn't a bad way to finish, either, so on the surface, all of these matchups make sense.

Here are the current MVPs, the champions, the legends and the future faces of the league. It's hard to argue that this isn't a great team, assuming everyone is healthy.

And yet, there are some OBVIOUS rejections that pretty much shocked me when I first saw this list. First off, where is Giannis? Did Adam Silver forget this guy exists? Or are he and the Bucks just not doing anything anymore? He's arguably one of the best 2-3 players in the world, his resume speaks for itself, and the NBA doesn't have this guy on its biggest day?

This sounds a little crazy, but I guess Wemby has more power? Is this a better matchup than a game between the Knicks and the Bucks considering they're both fighting for a similar seed in the East? I understand it's sick to want to market Wemby and him at MSG, but this seems a little disrespectful to a team that many think could be a contender.

The other notable snub is of course the Thunder, a team that many believe will lead the Western Conference for the second straight season. They seem like a team that checks all the boxes for a game like this, they have an MVP candidate, they play a fantastic style, they're damn good, and yet they get passed over as well.

I would understand the “small market” argument and that Christmas Day is for the big markets, but I also see MIN, SA, DEN on that list, so that's a bit confusing. None of those are “big markets,” and since Jokic is an obvious candidate, why is the best team in the conference with an MVP candidate being passed over? I guess that was the NBA trying to tell us that Wemby > a potential #1/MVP candidate, which is pretty crazy. I understand that someone has to be left out when you can only pick 10 teams, but I also think that day should be about creating the best games possible, and as great as Wemby is, the Spurs will probably win about 30 games next year if they're lucky (last season they won 22).

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While it's not as sexy, I'm also surprised we didn't get something like IND/MIL or IND/NYK for the early game. I'm not sure why the notion exists that the Pacers aren't good when they just made an ECF run after having the best offense in the league. They're legit, and there's definitely some spice in both matchups. They seem like the perfect kind of team to put in the early window, as they could definitely make a crack at being a top-four team in the East next season.