Indiana Pacers will not play on Christmas 2024

According to a report by Shams Charania from The athleteThe Indiana Pacers are not listed on the 2024 NBA Christmas schedule.

Charania, citing sources, said the ten teams participating in this year's Holiday Battles are the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns.

Of the last eight remaining postseason teams from last year, only five are playing on Christmas. The Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder are the three left out – they will be replaced by the Spurs, Lakers, Suns, 76ers and Warriors.

To a certain extent, that makes sense. These teams either have a superstar with enormous TV popularity (LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid) or a player with the potential to become the face of the league in Victor Wembanyama. However, Indiana is the only conference finalist from last season that doesn't play on Christmas.

The Pacers haven't played on this important game day since 2004, when they lost 98-93 to the Detroit Pistons. Even when the Blue and Gold reached the Eastern Conference Finals in two consecutive seasons in 2013-14, they didn't play on Christmas.

Perhaps another year of success and popularity could put the Pacers in a position to play a Christmas game. Indiana just ended a playoff drought last season, and while they have All-NBA talent on their roster, they're still on the rise. A future Christmas game is more likely.

The Pacers finished 47-35 last season, finishing sixth in the East. So far, only a few Pacers games have been announced for the 2024-25 season – two preseason games were announced this week and the Paris games next January against San Antonio were announced.