Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
LeBron James made his Christmas debut in 2003. Victor Wembanyama was born 10 days later.
That's right: James has been featured on the NBA's big day for longer than Wembanyama has been alive. And on Wednesday — when the league celebrates Christmas with games for the 77th time — the league's oldest player and brightest young star will be big parts of the holiday showcase.
It's another Christmas quintupleheader, with Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs visiting the New York Knicks, Minnesota going to Dallas for a Western Conference finals rematch, Philadelphia heading to Boston to renew a storied rivalry, James and the Los Angeles Lakers taking on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and Denver playing at Phoenix in the nightcap.
"Very excited, of course," Wembanyama said, the French star previewing his first Christmas game opportunity. "First of all, spending Christmas in New York, it's going to be like the movies, I hope. Get a little snow."
His first Christmas wish came true: Light snow fell in Manhattan on Tuesday morning.
James said he's relishing another chance to share the holiday spotlight with Curry — someone he's played against on Christmas three previous times.
"Any time you get an opportunity to be on the court and compete against one of the greatest to ever play this game, you don't take it for granted," James — who turns 40 next week — said of facing his U.S. Olympic teammate. "I don't know how many more opportunities we'll get to go against each other."
The Christmas games have been looked at for decades as the time when more fans tend to start watching basketball. The NFL — which is going head-to-head against the NBA on Wednesday — is seeing its regular season winding down, and the five NBA games will all be shown nationally either on ABC or ESPN.
The Spurs-Knicks game will also have a special alt-cast starring Mickey Mouse and some of his friends, the first animated presentation of an NBA game. It'll be shown on ESPN2 and stream on Disney+ and ESPN+.
"I wish there were more of our great players who had a chance to play on that stage on Christmas Day," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. "It's been an interesting turnaround from certainly my earlier days in the league when we got a lot of complaints about playing on Christmas — and now it comes the other way, which is, 'Why aren't we playing on Christmas?' I wish we could accommodate even more teams."
Knicks forward Josh Hart, like just about everyone in the basketball world, raves about Wembanyama. The Spurs star is averaging 24.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.0 blocks, 3.9 assists and 3.3 3-pointers per game.
"He's an amazing player, man," Hart said. "He does things offensively, defensively that no one that's 7-whatever-the-heck-he-is should be doing. He's the future of the league."
For the record, Wembanyama is officially just under 7-foot-4.
The Knicks are playing their 57th Christmas game, extending their NBA record. The first Christmas game in league history was at Madison Square Garden in 1947.
"Been fortunate to play on Christmas a lot of days," Spurs guard Chris Paul said. "I'm excited."
Game time is 1:30 p.m. in Dallas, and that means it'll be 8:30 p.m. in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prime time, Christmas night in Luka Doncic's homeland.
The Mavericks star couldn't be happier how that worked out.
"It's special," said Doncic, who had a 50-point game on Christmas last year. "You have a lot of people from Europe want to watch the NBA. ... It's a big thing. It's going to be a special game."
Dallas beat Minnesota 4-1 in last year's West finals.
For Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, this is season No. 18 — and his second Christmas game.
"It was 14 years before I got to play on it in Utah," Conley said. "I looked forward to the opportunity. Not many people get the opportunity to play. When people are celebrating the holidays, they turn on the TV and are watching the NBA."
No teams have faced off against one another more in NBA history than defending champion Boston and Philadelphia. Same goes for Christmas rivalries: It'll be Celtics-76ers for the 14th time on Dec. 25, by far the most in the league.
Celtics guard Jrue Holiday says it's tough to interrupt family time on Christmas — but also said it's fun that his children can watch their father play that day.
"It's an honor to be able to play on Christmas Day," Holiday said. "I know I was one of the kids that couldn't wait for Christmas games to come on. So, it's always an honor."
Curry and James have met on Christmas in 2015, 2016 and 2018, all immediately following seasons that ended with Cleveland vs. Golden State matchups in the NBA Finals.
Lakers coach JJ Redick played on Christmas 11 times in his career. The significance of seeing another Steph vs. LeBron matchup on the holiday isn't lost on him.
"I think it was great to have two of the icons of this generation go head-to-head and have one, for sure, classic series and then just also some classic games and classic moments," Redick said. "For those guys also being teammates on the Olympic stage, they just have the ultimate respect for each other."
James gets another chance to become the NBA's all-time Christmas win leader: He's played in 10 wins on Dec. 25, tying former teammate Dwyane Wade's holiday record. This is James' 19th Christmas game; Wade played in 13.
Curry, if he starts, will be the seventh person in NBA history with at least 11 starts on Dec. 25, joining James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Wade, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
"Christmas spirit hopefully can bring some gifts our way with a win," Curry said.
Durant will play on Christmas for the 12th time, and only James, Bryant and Oscar Robertson have more points on Dec. 25 than he does.
It's a rematch of a 117-90 win by Denver on Monday night.
"Looking forward to this next game," Durant said.
The Nuggets know the Suns will want to avenge losing by 27, plus that the holiday brings out the best in players.
"Hopefully we can go into their spot on Christmas and get another win," Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said. "But I'm sure it'll be a tougher game."
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AP Sports Writers Janie McCauley and Greg Beacham, and Associated Press Writers Dick Scanlon, Aaron Bracy, Bill Trocchi, Pat Pickens, Jeff Miller and Michael Kelly contributed to this story.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
