San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama are the perfect Christmas opponents for the New York Knicks

New York Knicks fans will have a celebration on Christmas Day this year when reigning Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs visit Madison Square Garden on December 25th.

It will be the 55th time in Knicks history that the team has played on Christmas Day, and Wembanyama and the Spurs will be a great opponent for New York to open the five-game series.

The best game of Wembanyama's rookie year was against the Knicks in San Antonio, where he scored 40 points and a career-high 20 rebounds in a Spurs win at Frost Bank Center in March.

The next likely meeting between the two teams will take place on Christmas Day in front of an international audience.

The NBA's Christmas program is all about highlighting the league's best stars, and Wembanyama has already made that happen in just one season. His 7'4″ frame and ability to block shots while shooting from distance should make him one of the most talented players in league history. Once he's at his best, he could one day become the face of the NBA.

In New York, play begins at noon, while in his native France it begins at 6 p.m., where he helped his country get into the gold medal game in its first Olympic tournament. Starting play so early in the United States gives the international audience a better chance to see the competition.

The league could have put the Celtics on par with the Knicks or given the Spurs an opponent like the Dallas Mavericks to start a new chapter in their rivalry. But instead, the league wants to have the biggest up-and-coming star play against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on the NBA's most important holiday. It doesn't get much bigger than that.

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