Familiar opponent awaits Phoenix on Christmas Day

With three star players on their roster, it would be foolish to expect the Phoenix Suns not to play on Christmas Day – or as many others know it – the unofficial start of the NBA season. But before 2021 and what would ultimately be a trip to the NBA Finals, the Suns hadn't appeared on the list of top players since 2009.

Even worse, the Suns are yet to win since returning to the big day on December 25. They lost to (in that order and starting in 2021) the Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. A record that Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal would surely like to break.

Accordingly Shams Charania of The AthleticThe Suns will face the Nuggets, which is rumored to be the last meeting of the five games. The purely Western Conference affair is preceded by another, namely the duel between the Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers.

But why were the Nuggets chosen as opponents when Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves swept the Suns out of the postseason last year? While fans always focus on their own team, there are rumors that the Timberwolves have their own business to attend to in the form of a rematch with the Mavericks.

The prospect of Edwards versus Luka Doncic – a repeat of last season's Western Conference Finals – is too good for the league to pass up. The Timberwolves themselves may have tried to capitalize on the Edwards-Durant rivalry that seemed to blossom in this series, but the truth is that the respect between the two is clear for all to see.

That's harder to sell to the masses than the prospect of Doncic being a real villain – and a European one at that – going up against a player like Edwards, who is quickly looking like he could one day be the face of the entire league. Still, the Suns have a lot to look forward to, and the Nuggets are old rivals from the past.

It was Denver that eliminated the Suns in the 2023 playoffs – en route to their first championship – and the gap between the two seems to have closed. While Booker and Durant had a wonderful summer at the Olympics as key players for Team USA, the Nuggets had to watch Kentavious Caldwell-Pope pack up camp and join the Orlando Magic.

Additionally, both Booker and Durant were instrumental in helping the U.S. team get past Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the semifinals at the Paris Olympics, making things even more exciting. What better way for Jokic to get revenge than to beat up the Suns while the sports world prepares for the playoffs on national television?

Most of all, it's good news for the Suns, who have had a solid offseason but still lag behind the league's top teams. They're still a big draw and have the best talent to face former champions on a big day on the calendar. You can't ask for more when you're trying to win a championship.