The 2025 NBA Christmas Day Slate Is Flat Out Incredible

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

I hope you all don't mind me popping in for a second and breaking up the collective following along of the Barstool Beach House experiment, but we have some breaking NBA news to discuss. No, it's not a trade or a signing. Unfortunately, the Jonathan Kuminga saga rolls on. But what we do have is the official 2025 NBA Christmas Day slate of games and I can't lie, the matchups are awesome

OK, let's allow for all the hardos do their thing and talk about how nobody cares about the NBA on Christmas anymore now that the NFL decided to cuck Adam Silver and steal his day.

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Good? OK cool. Now let's focus on the initial takeaways. For obvious reasons, I couldn't help but notice that for the first time since 2015, my beloved Boston Celtics will not be participating in the Christmas Day slate this year. Ah well, that's what happens when your best player pops his achilles and your entire roster is immediately gutted. You can certainly understand why the "gap year" Celtics are not a part of the league's biggest regular season showcase. My guess is they'll be right back next year once Tatum returns, so taking a year off is whatever.

It's a little messed up that it took OKC winning the title for them to finally be playing on Christmas. The fact that they didn't play last year when they were the #1 seed in 2023-24 was a bit odd, but as the Champs, you can't leave them out obviously. All in all the matchups are pretty good for the most part. Personally I would have preferred to see DAL/LAL and HOU/GS given what took place in 2024-25, but oh well. Let's run through each

Cavs vs Knicks

The two teams that in theory should be the top two spots in the East this year, this feels like a no brainer. Knicks always play on Christmas, and with the Pacers also in a gap year with Haliburton out, this is really the only Eastern Conference matchup that would have juice. It's a little surprising that Giannis is not playing on Christmas in back to back seasons, but I guess the NBA isn't really interested in putting that roster on the national stage, and frankly, who could blame them.

A DET/NYK rematch could have been fun, but considering the Cavs were the #1 seed last year and should be the #1 seed again this year, you have to give them the nod in my opinion. There's also some playoff history between CLE and NYK, so this is fine.

Spurs vs Thunder

Now this is what I'm talking about. You have the defending Champs vs a team that many believe could one day follow in a similar path to the Thunder. You get Wemby vs SGA. You get two young rosters in sort of a "present" vs "future" situation in the Western Conference, and now that Wemby is cleared to play, you know the NBA wasn't going to hold them out this year. They got the nod last year in the early game against the Knicks, so now it's time to graduate to the next level.

I will say this is the matchup that has the highest probability of being a blowout, but you never know with Wemby. For all we know this is going to be the breakout year that vaults the Spurs into the top 6 conversation, and this game ends up being competitive. Not sure I love the chances of the Spurs' young/inexperienced guards going up against that OKC defense, but I'm hoping for the best.

Rockets vs Lakers

With only so many years left for more KD vs LeBron battles, that's how I view this. The NBA is going to squeeze every last drop out of LeBron/Steph/KD before they retire, so it's no surprise the Rockets (who are also going to be pretty damn good) get the nod. It's no different than when PHX/GS/LAL got the nods last year. If you have one of those 3 players in your roster, the NBA is going to put you on Christmas.

Add in a trimmed down Luka, two psychos in JJ Redick and Ime Udoka, and this has the potential to be one of the better games of the day which hopefully ends in a Rockets win. It's also a great opportunity for Amen Thompson to play on the big stage as a player who is trending to take a nice leap this upcoming season, and I don't think you can ignore any potential H2H seeding tie breakers between these two teams once the Spring rolls around. Remember, seeds 3-6 were basically all tied in the West last year, so the H2H matchups are important.

Mavericks vs Warriors

Not having Kyrie is a bit of a bummer, but just like with Wemby, you're out of your mind if you didn't think the NBA was putting Cooper Flagg on the Christmas Day slate. The NBA needs eyeballs so how do you do that? You give us Steph vs Cooper. I'm not sure how competitive the game might be, but to me this is more about announcing Cooper Flagg to the world while also letting us see Steph in these games before he hangs it up. 

I'm not totally sure how the Warriors will handle the Mavs size, and that's even with Al Horford potentially coming on board, but at the same time who on the Mavs is slowing down Steph? What if Jimmy Butler actually tries? That changes things for sure.

Timberwolves vs Nuggets

This gets my vote for the best matchup of the day. Let's be honest about something, the Nuggets very clearly have a Timberwolves problem. In 2023-24, it was the Wolves who came back and beat the Nuggets during their title defense run in their own building in a Game 7. That was brutal. Then in the 2024-25 season, the Wolves went a perfect 4-0 against the Nuggets. They were destined to have a rematch in last year's WCF, but the Nuggets once again came up short in a Game 7 and lost in RD2.

That was the old Nuggets roster, though. This season, it's a completely different (and vastly improved) group. They have better shot creation, they have better shooting, they have better back up center options. This is a team that many think can challenge OKC for the crown of the West, and it's definitely a team that's better positioned to handle the Wolves.

On the MIN side, it's time to break through. A few WCF trips are nice, but eventually you have to get over that hump, and how they match up against this version of the Nuggets could potentially be the deciding factor should they meet in the postseason. Games between these two are usually pretty close, so don't be surprised if this ends up easily being the best matchup we see.

All in all, I'd say the league did OK with their choices this season. It sucks BOS/IND are dealing with their injuries because they'd both for sure get the nod, but the final pairings should still make for a great day of hoops.