The NBA’s Christmas Day slate did not disappoint in the slightest this year. Virtually all of the five games came down to the wire, including LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers needing a game-winning bucket from Austin Reaves to steal a win over the Golden State Warriors. It was an incredible day for a league that desperately needed a win after conversations about low ratings have dominated the news cycle.
And what made it even better is that the NBA had an incredible Christmas Day despite efforts from the NFL to take over the holiday slate. The NFL scheduled two marquee matchups — Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans — for a morning and afternoon game. In a move that felt almost intentional, they broadcast the games on Netflix, making it much harder to flip between NFL and NBA on a TV.
Ratings numbers have yet to come out, but regardless of what the numbers say, the NBA had a phenomenal Christmas. And LeBron made sure to mention this in his postgame interview after the Lakers’ thrilling victory in San Francisco, via Shams Charania of ESPN:
LeBron James: "I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day." pic.twitter.com/aYGNODI5ud
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 26, 2024
For a long time, there was an unspoken agreement between the NBA and NFL that Thanksgiving belonged to the latter and Christmas belonged to the former. But in recent years, the NFL has started to put more and more of an emphasis on Christmas, even when it comes on a day of the week that traditionally does not have any football, like a Wednesday.
Given the nature of the NFL’s schedule vs. the NBA, it wouldn’t be surprising if football won the ratings battle for the day. However, no one will remember the relatively boring two-game slate that featured two blowouts. What they will remember is the NBA featuring four games that all went down to the wire and some of the world’s biggest superstars on full display.
LeBron James wants Christmas jerseys back
For five seasons from 2012-16, NBA teams who got the honor of playing one of the five Christmas Day games got an extra treat by wearing a custom jersey for the day. LeBron James — on the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers — as well as the Lakers, got to experience all five of those unique jerseys.
That included two iterations of the Christmas card jerseys, a color rush type uniform and the infamous sleeved jerseys. But when the NBA switched from Adidas to Nike as the jersey creator for the NBA in 2017, they chose not to continue the tradition, despite some rumblings from players each and every year.
LeBron, who is still among the league elite eight years later in 2024 with the Lakers, is the latest player to call for a return to unique Christmas Day jerseys. He did so on social media ahead of L.A.’s Christmas Day bout with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
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