Six takeaways from NBA Christmas Day and Opening Night schedules

Six takeaways from NBA Christmas Day and Opening Night schedules

Heyo, it’s Trey for No Dunks, and I got six takeaways from the NBA’s opening night and Christmas Day schedules. [Music] Shams tweeted out the details recently, so let’s take a look at them. On opening night, going to be on NBC for the first time in forever. Things get kicked off with the Rockets playing in OKC. It is ringing night for the Thunder. Should be exciting. That’s followed up by the Warriors playing in LA against the Lakers. That’ll be LeBron and Steph meeting for the 56th time in their career. Wow. On Christmas, the games will still be on ESPN and ABC. Starts off with the Cavs visiting the Knicks in New York. They always get the first game. That’s followed by the Spurs playing in OKC against the Thunder. The Rockets face off against the Lakers in LA. Then the Mavericks play against the Warriors in Golden State. And to cap things off, it’ll be the Timberwolves versus the Nuggets in Denver. That’s the schedule. And here’s what stuck out to me. Number one, OKC is getting a muchdeserved push this season. Ring night is a given. They’re the champs, so of course they’re going to start things off. But I do love that Kevin Durant is going to be playing there with the Rockets. Just a delicious piece of narrative story building from the NBA. And like I said, that’s going to be on NBC. Got to see that one. Also important, I think, is that the Thunder got a Christmas Day game this year. That was a complaint of theirs throughout last season. You heard it from their fans as well. They had Sha Gil just Alexander. They were the one seed in the Western Conference during the 2024 season, but no Christmas game. The NBA has remedied that this season. They’ve got the reigning MVP. They’re the reigning champs. Of course, they’re playing on ring night, but now they’re playing on Christmas as well. We should be seeing a ton of the Thunder this year. I think the fact that they’re playing in the central time zone definitely helps. We’ll be seeing them on the first leg of a lot of these double headers coming up this season. So, Thunder fans, you got your wish. Next takeaway is the team they play on opening night, the Houston Rockets. I think they are a crucial team for the NBA’s marketing this season because the Rockets have a unique blend of young players who need to be built up in Amen Thompson, Alper and Shenon, even some of the guys off their bench like Tari E. But they also just acquired Kevin Durant, a legitimate box office draw. People have been watching KD play in the NBA for years and years. So he brings in the viewers, you learn about all their young guys. And guess what? You’ve built a bridge from one generation to the next. Central time zone for the Rockets as well. That is beneficial. We’re going to see a lot of Houston and a lot of OKC this year. My third takeaway, we still love LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Opening night is kind of like Survivors Millennials versus Gen Z. We start with the sickos, Houston versus OKC, and then one for everybody, the Warriors and the Lakers. As for Christmas, it’ll be LeBron’s 20th Christmas game. That is the most ever by far. But this will also be Steph Curry’s 12th Christmas game, tied for the fourth most among all NBA players. Now look, the Lakers also have Luca Donuch. People love seeing this guy. This will be his fifth career Christmas game already in his young career. But with the Warriors, you’re basically tuning in just to see Steph Curry. I mean, look, I love Jimmy Butler. Draymond has a can’t look away quality to him, I think you would say. But the eyeballs are certainly there for Steph. We are gonna see these two guys, LeBron and Steph, every Christmas until they retire. And if you ask me, I’m actually okay seeing them every single opening night against each other until they retire as well. We just had the one-year anniversary of Steph going nuts in the Olympics. Still an all-time great moment. Though LeBron and Steph are both on the tail ends of their careers, you got to tune in and see what they’re going to be up to. So, I like the older generation continuing uh to get some premier spots here from the NBA. On the flip side of things, Cooper Flag got a rookie Christmas game. That is my next takeaway. Because if the Mavs getting a Christmas Day game was really about their narrative or about Anthony Davis or about the Luca Donuch of it all, the game would be Dallas versus the Lakers. And I’m a little bit disappointed it isn’t. We could have a Shaq versus Kobe 2004 Lakers versus Miami scenario with those two going up against each other. But I do think it’s interesting that the NBA has given Cooper such a push right away. The last number one overall pick to get a Christmas game in their rookie year was Zion Williamson. Of course, he was hurt by the time Christmas came around, so it didn’t even come to fruition. But look at Victor Webbyama. The biggest prospect in the draft in the past decade. Even he didn’t get a Christmas Day game for his rookie season. So, this shows you what the NBA really thinks about Cooper as an American player. It’s not a surprise that he’s going to get a push like this, but definitely interesting to see that they’re going full boore into the Cooper flag era. Hopefully, he performs well and you know, it’s two months into the season. Hopefully, he’s able to play in that game, unlike Zion back when he was drafted. My fifth takeaway, less hype might mean better games. When I’m looking at the Christmas Day schedule here is my hype rankings. I’m starting with Houston versus LA. You got LeBron versus KD, LeBron versus Eay Udoka, Luca Donuch, Amen Thompson. If you want to go really deep, you’ve got Dorian Finny Smith switching teams from the Lakers to the Rockets. I don’t know how many people are tuning in for that, but it is a factor in these two teams going against each other. Very exciting to see. Number two on my list is the Spurs versus the Thunder. This is a budding long-term rivalry. We’ve got Webby versus Cadet. two tall, skinny guys who are going to be compared to each other for their entire career. They’ve got history with each other as well. You’ve got the current MVP in Shay. You’ve got potentially a future MVP in Wemby making his second appearance. This one should be awesome to watch. At three is Dallas and Golden State. Just talked about Cooper getting his first game, but Steph’s there obviously. Jimmy and Draymond as well. Anthony Davis still an awesome player. and Klay Thompson returning to Golden State once again. Last year they had the hats out. One of the great moments of the season. Should be a cool game to see on Christmas Day. The final two games are just straight up good basketball matchups. You got the Timberwolves going to Denver to play against the Nuggets. Nicole Joic, the best player on the planet. Anthony Edwards, one of the most fun players to watch in the planet. Just a good oldfashioned basketball rivalry between these two teams. They’ve met in the playoffs a couple of times. They should be both contenders in the Western Conference, making finals, making conference finals. The way they have a lot of big guys to go against each other. That’s just a fun basketball matchup for us basketball fans. And finally, the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Knicks. That’s the least hyped for me. The Knicks do get the first game. This is the assumed Eastern Conference Finals matchup. You got Donovan Mitchell, you got Jaylen Brunson. big names, big allstars, but it does kind of feel like this is the uh the bone throw to the Eastern Conference. But you look at those last two games, Minnesota versus Denver, Cleveland versus New York. Established teams, they’ve got history, they’re all contenders, and they’re all quality matchups. Both teams playing styles of basketball that can offer problems for the other team. These could easily be the best games of the day. Now, the fact that it starts the day and ends the day kind of makes me feel like we’re burying Anthony Edwards and Nicole Joic a little bit here to focus on some newer, shinier things, but that should be an awesome, awesome game. And really, I hope that ESPN and ABC figures out a way to turn Carl Anthony Towns into Goofy again because that was one of my favorite moments of last year’s Christmas, that Disneyified version that they showed on maybe ESPN 2 or whatever it was. I’ll never be able to think of Carl Anthony Towns a different way. So, we’ll see what ESPN comes up with there. But when I’m looking at the quality of play, I do like Timberwolves Nuggets and Cavs versus Knicks. Which brings me to my final takeaway number six. The Eastern Conference is the Eastern Conference. These are seven premier games. Two on opening night, five on Christmas, and only one of them has Eastern Conference teams. Two out of the 14 teams that play on these seven games come from the Eastern Conference, which shows you what the NBA themselves think about the competition between conferences this year. I guess if you’re a Pistons fan, maybe a Magic fan, you think that those teams should have gotten a look on either opening night or on Christmas Day. Personally, I think they’re more a year away. like prove it to us that you are a legitimate contender in your conference and then we’ll give you the showcase on Christmas. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of those teams playing in 2026. But for 2025, it is just the Cavs and the Knicks. If we’re talking about snubs on Christmas, I think you got to take a look at the Clippers who continue to win 50 games. Do have some big stars in Kawhi Leonard and James Harden and a huge market there in LA. They don’t have a Christmas game for I don’t know five straight years. That’s kind of odd in the Eastern Conference. I guess you would just say Giannis. The guy is a top five MVP candidate year in year out. The Bucks are probably going to have a down year, but they still have Giannis. So, kind of weird not to see him playing on Christmas, but you can understand why things are so heavily tilted towards the Western Conference. But it’s good to see the schedule starting to come out here. We’re going to get some more leaks, some more official announcements from the league throughout the season. But until then, let us know what games you’re most excited for, whether on opening night or on Christmas Day. Season’s coming soon enough. Stay tuned to No Dumps. [Music]

Trey shares a few thoughts on the NBA games scheduled on Christmas Day and opening night.

Opening night schedule:
— Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder
— Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers

2025 Christmas Day schedule:
— Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks
— San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder
— Houston Rockets at LA Lakers
— Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors
— Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets

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