For the seventh consecutive year, the Golden State Warriors will play a marquee NBA game on Christmas day.
According to an ESPN report, the Warriors will host the Houston Rockets on December 25, part of a five-game package on the holiday. It’s unclear what time the Warriors will play, or on what station (Christmas games are usually split between ESPN, ABC, and TNT).
The Warriors will host the game, giving the Chase Center a huge event in the team’s first year back in San Francisco.
It’s the first time in five years that the Warriors won’t face LeBron James on Christmas. After playing the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013 and 2014, Golden State had NBA Finals rematches with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015, 2016, and 2017. In 2018, the Warriors played James’ new team on the holiday, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Since the rest of Warriors’ schedule has yet to be released, we don’t know what games they will have played prior to December 25. But there’s a chance it’s their first glance at the new-look Rockets, who swapped All-Star point guards in July, trading Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook.
The other four Christmas games are the Lakers vs. the Clippers in Los Angeles (“home” team unknown), the Milwaukee Bucks at the Philadelphia 76ers, the Boston Celtics at the Toronto Raptors, and the New Orleans Pelicans at the Denver Nuggets.