Some of the marquee regular season games for the 2025-26 NBA season are starting to leak as the Los Angeles Lakers will reportedly be hosting the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day.
That matchup came as a bit of a surprise as many expected the Lakers to either play the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day due to the budding rivalry since the Luka Doncic trade, or the Golden State Warriors given the long-time rivalry between LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
The Lakers traveled to take on the Warriors on Christmas Day last year though, so the NBA clearly wanted to switch things up. James and Curry’s first matchup will still be a marquee one, however, with Shams Charania of ESPN reporting L.A. will host Golden State on Opening Night:
🚨🚨🚨Opening Night of the 2025-26 NBA season on NBC on Oct. 21, per sources:
– Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder
– Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 8, 2025
The Lakers snapped a six-game losing streak on Opening Night when they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena, so they will be looking to do the same this year against the Warriors to create a win streak and some momentum.
It remains to be seen who will be on the court for Golden State that night as they are the only team in the league that has yet to make a move this offseason. They are waiting for Jonathan Kuminga’s restricted free agency to get sorted out but have been linked to some veterans the Lakers also had reported interest in like Al Horford and DeAnthony Melton.
Regardless though, James and Curry will be the headliners of this matchup. They have faced off against each other 27 times in the regular season in their careers with LeBron winning 14 of them.
Considering how strong the Western Conference is this year, the NBA did not put any Eastern Conference teams on Opening Night as the first matchup will feature the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder hosting the new-look Rockets. That will see Kevin Durant returning to Oklahoma City on the night they raise their first championship banner.
Lakers star Luka Doncic looking to prove doubters wrong
The Lakers hosting the Warriors on Opening Night will also be the start of Luka Doncic’s first full season in purple and gold. After an offseason in which he completely transformed his body to get in better shape, Doncic is looking to prove all of the doubters wrong this upcoming season.
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