Stephen Curry and LeBron James will renew their rivalry on Christmas Day.
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Periodically, NBA.com’s writers will weigh in on key storylines or trending topics around the league.
1. Which team playing on Christmas should feel the most jolly right now?
Boston Celtics. Short-term, they’re at home on the holiday and are heavy favorites against Philadelphia. Long-term, Boston is humming along, even in dropping three of its last … nine. Every loss has been isolated (no streaks), the Celtics are largely healthy and their only real competition in the East, Cleveland, has yet to prove it has staying power that will last into May. — Steve Aschburner
Boston Celtics. The defending champs enter Christmas Day with the best record of the 10 teams in action on the holiday and third best in the entire NBA. There has been no sign of a championship hangover in Boston with Kia MVP candidate Jayson Tatum leading the way and Kia Sixth Man candidate Payton Pritchard making this deep Celtics squad even more dangerous. — Brian Martin
Boston Celtics. First and foremost, the defending champs are blessed with good health. Jayson Tatum is playing at an MVP level. And as a bonus, Payton Pritchard is dropping 3-pointers and giving a bigger bench boost than expected. — Shaun Powell
Boston Celtics. The champs know who they are and how to win. They’ve played a relatively easy schedule, there’s going to be some 3-point variability from night to night, and it would be better if more of their 3-point attempts were generated by paint touches. But they’re healthy, Payton Pritchard has given them a ton of juice off the bench and no other team has fewer potential weaknesses or a better formula for success on both ends of the floor. — John Schuhmann
2. Which team playing on Christmas could use a New Year’s resolution?
The Knicks: Don’t listen to the minutes talk. Some Knicks fans and media are already wringing their hands over taskmaster Tom Thibodeau’s heavy use of the team’s starters. The five-man unit leads the NBA in minutes logged. Thibs doesn’t grind his teams in practices, and the NBA has spent bundles trying to ascertain how a load management game in November avoids a sprained ankle in February. — Steve Aschburner.
The Nuggets: Do not waste this season from Nikola Jokić, who has a chance to join Bill Russell and LeBron James as the only players to win four Kia MVPs in a five-season span. After losing key rotation players in free agency the past two summers, the Nuggets need to be buyers at the trade deadline to add talent around Jokić and remain in championship contention. — Brian Martin
The Lakers: Keep LeBron James going past 40 years old. Especially if he’s gonna give this level of production. And get him some defensive help. — Shaun Powell
The Sixers: Resolve to run a little. The offense has been a real struggle, even in the limited minutes that Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Joel Embiid have been on the floor. The Sixers have been solid defensively and rank second in opponent turnover rate, but are 28th in the percentage of their possessions (16%) that have been in transition. How about turning some of those steals into early offense? Effective field goal percentage is lowest in the last six seconds of the shot clock and only Brooklyn has taken a higher percentage of its shots in the last six seconds than Philly. — John Schuhmann
3. Which Christmas Day matchup would you want to be gifted as a playoff series?
Wolves vs. Mavs. What’s not to like about a rematch of the 2024 Western Conference Finals? They met a week into this season (Dallas won at Target Center), have this one, then one more on Jan. 22. That’s not enough for a matchup in which the Mavericks held a 5-4 edge in nine meetings last season, including 4-1 in the playoffs. The star power — Luka Dončić, Anthony Edwards, Kyrie Irving — demands an encore and the hunger again to advance would be palpable. — Steve Aschburner
Lakers vs. Warriors. It’s a nostalgia pick here, knowing that we don’t have much longer to see LeBron James and Stephen Curry face off with one another. They have five playoff series in their history — four coming in the NBA Finals — but there’s still room for one more. — Brian Martin
Sixers vs. Celtics. This could realistically happen assuming Philly grabs one of the last few SoFi Play-In Tournament spots. A healthy and recharged Joel Embiid hell-bent on salvaging the season, plus a better-adjusted Paul George could rekindle those classic Celtics-Sixers clashes of the past. — Shaun Powell
Sixers vs. Celtics. No two franchises have played more games against each other (583) over the NBA’s 79 seasons, and Philly-Boston is also pretty compelling regarding the current rosters. Joel Embiid (because of his size) and Tyrese Maxey (because of the Boston bigs’ issues in the pick-and-roll) provide potential matchup issues for the champs, while Paul George is about as good a defender as you can put in front of Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown. Throw in some janky zone defenses from Nick Nurse and there will be plenty to chew on even if the Celtics are a heavy favorite. — John Schuhmann
4. Which two teams do you want to see added to next year’s Christmas Day “sleight?”
Oklahoma City and Cleveland. The Thunder and the Cavaliers (or at least their loved ones) might feel grateful to not work on the holiday this season, but they’d better enjoy it because it’s likely to change. They are two of the most exciting and championship-focused teams — brimming with talent and eager for respect — and there’s no reason each can’t be perched atop its respective conference standings a year from now. — Steve Aschburner
Oklahoma City and Cleveland. We don’t have to look far down the standings to find two teams worthy of the Christmas Day spotlight. We only need to look at the No. 1 spot in both conferences for teams brimming with young talent ready to contend for titles and the opportunity to play holiday hoops. — Brian Martin
Oklahoma City and Orlando. These organically grown teams represent the next generation of stars despite their market size. OKC could win a championship next summer. Orlando will be beastly once Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner heal. — Shaun Powell
Oklahoma City and Orlando. The Thunder — the best team in the West with three young stars and consistent energy — are the easy answer. The Magic have similar traits and, while they currently remain limited offensively, could be a two-way juggernaut by this time next year with the further development of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. The former could very well be a future MVP. — John Schuhmann
5. Which team playing on Christmas should start shopping before February’s trade deadline?
Denver Nuggets. These guys don’t have enough to survive, let alone thrive, in a long postseason run. And no, they haven’t done right by Nikola Jokić the past 18 months in shoring up, never mind enhancing, the roster around him. Internal development (Christian Braun, Peyton Watson) is fine, but the Nuggets’ window as a title contender and Jokić’s prime should have the Denver front office on a loudly ticking clock. — Steve Aschburner
Golden State Warriors. The Warriors didn’t wait until February, they started shopping near Christmas time with the acquisition of Dennis Schröder from Brooklyn last week. But just because they started early, doesn’t mean the Warriors should be done making deals. The championship-contending window with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will eventually shut, but the right moves this February could keep the window ajar a while longer. — Brian Martin
Los Angeles Lakers. There are many candidates here as the Nuggets, Wolves, Warriors and Suns could use a shakeup. But none are up against the clock like Los Angeles, which has assets to move. The Lakers are desperate to salvage what could be LeBron James’ last year and need a third impactful player in the rotation.
— Shaun Powell
New York Knicks. The Knicks have the highest ceiling of the nine teams outside of Boston but might need another piece on the perimeter (somebody bigger than the 6-foot-1 Miles McBride) to avoid having OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart play 46 minutes a night in the playoffs. The Karl-Anthony Towns addition has worked out as well as can be expected and the Knicks should go all-in on 2025. That means doing all they can to avoid having their rotation run out of gas in a second straight postseason. — John Schuhmann
