While Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry have enjoyed being teammates on Team USA during this Olympic run, they will go back to being rivals when the 2024-25 NBA season starts.
The Lakers and Warriors are in similar situations coming off disappointing seasons. Neither team has done enough this offseason to elevate their rosters around the aging stars, especially as the rest of the West continues to improve.
James and Curry remain among the biggest draws in the league though, and that will be reflected when the schedule comes out. Some games are already beginning to leak out, notably the Christmas Day schedule where the Lakers will be traveling to the Warriors with James and Curry squaring off in the primetime slate, via Shams Charania of The Athletic:
NBA Christmas Day games for the 2024-25 season, per sources:
🎄Spurs at Knicks
🎄Timberwolves at Mavericks
🎄76ers at Celtics
🎄Lakers at Warriors
🎄Nuggets at Suns— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 9, 2024
The NBA typically likes to showcase its biggest stars on Christmas Day and that is again the case this year. It starts with the San Antonio Spurs traveling to take on the New York Knicks, with Victor Wembanyama making his Christmas debut in Madison Square Garden.
Luke Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks will host Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves in a WCF rematch.
The NBA champion Boston Celtics will then play the Philadelphia 76ers, who may be their biggest competition in the East after adding Paul George to go along with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
While the times aren’t listed, the Lakers and Warriors will likely tip off around 5:15 p.m. PT at Chase Center, where L.A. will be looking to get back to .500 all-time on Christmas Day (currently 24-25).
To end the night, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets will head to the dessert to face Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and the Phoenix Suns.
While those are all certain to be intriguing matchups, some notable teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, L.A. Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks won’t be playing on Christmas this year.
Lakers win total over/under set at 44.5
It’s been a quiet offseason for the Lakers as the only changes to their roster were draft picks Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, replacing free agents Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie.
With that being the case, ESPN Bets is expecting the the Lakers to win slightly fewer games than last season, setting their over/under win total at 44.5.
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