The NBA offseason is flying by as the Los Angeles Lakers are set to report to training camp in less than two months.
Coming off a 50-win season, the Lakers were able to improve their roster this offseason by adding Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia. Their only notable subtraction from last year’s roster is Dorian Finney-Smith, who chose to sign with the Houston Rockets in free agency.
According to reports, Finney-Smith left the Lakers on bad terms, and it won’t be long before he will have a chance to stick it to his former team in front of a national audience as Shams Charania of ESPN is reporting that L.A. will host Houston as part of the NBA’s annual Christmas Day slate:
🚨🎄 NBA Christmas Day 2025 on ABC and ESPN, per sources:
– 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
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 8, 2025
In addition to Finney-Smith returning to Crypto.com Arena, there will be plenty of other storylines to follow in this Christmas Day game.
Chief among them is LeBron James and Kevin Durant, who remain incredible despite being in their back half of their respective careers, battling it out on Christmas once again. The future Hall of Famers have matched up four times on the holiday with James’ team winning three of them, the last of which came as a member of the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors in 2018.
Durant was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Rockets this offseason, giving Houston a very formidable roster in a loaded Western Conference.
With the West being as good as it is, it’s notable that eight of the 10 teams playing on Christmas are from that conference. The East is as weak as it’s ever been due to injuries, which led to the league choosing West powerhouses over some traditional Dec. 25 appearances from teams like the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers.
Lakers star LeBron James praises Kevin Durant
When LeBron James and Kevin Durant take the floor on Christmas Day, there will be a mutual respect there as they continue to compete at a high level all these years later. The Lakers star recently praised Durant for his scoring efficiency, continuing to be elite at age 36.
“Not to the capacity he’s done it. And I was reading a stat earlier, the fact that, I don’t wanna speak like you’re not here, but you’re just so f—ing great I like to do it sometimes. He hasn’t shot under 50% since like 2012. And in a league that doesn’t talk about efficiency enough, because I’m one of those efficiency guys. Like I hate going out there, just chucking up shots or looking at the box score and I was maybe 8-for-23 or 9-for-25 or 6-for-18. You’re gonna have those nights for sure, but for the majority of the season, being efficient is something I’ve always prided myself on. And this guy, when it comes to three-level scorer, 3-pointers, mid-range, below the Gary Payton area, below the Malone area and finishing. We haven’t had a scorer as equipped as KD in our league, ever.”
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