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 鈥� when the league celebrates Christmas with games for the 77th time 鈥� 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.
鈥淰ery excited, of course,鈥� Wembanyama said, the French star previewing his first Christmas game opportunity. 鈥淔irst of all, spending Christmas in New York, it鈥檚 going to be like the movies, I hope. Get a little snow.鈥�
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 鈥� someone he's played against on Christmas three previous times.
鈥淎ny time you get an opportunity to be on the court and compete against one of the greatest to ever play this game, you don鈥檛 take it for granted," James 鈥� who turns 40 next week 鈥� said of facing his U.S. Olympic teammate. 鈥淚 don't know how many more opportunities we'll get to go against each other.鈥�
The Christmas games have been looked at for decades as the time when more fans tend to start watching basketball. The NFL 鈥� which is going head-to-head against the NBA on Wednesday 鈥� is seeing its regular season winding down, and the five NBA games will all be shown nationally either on A小蓝视频 or ESPN.
The Spurs-Knicks game will also have a special alt-cast starring of an NBA game. It'll be shown on ESPN2 and stream on Disney+ and ESPN+.
鈥淚 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. 鈥淚t's been an interesting turnaround from certainly my earlier days in the league when we got a lot of complaints about playing on Christmas 鈥� and now it comes the other way, which is, I wish we could accommodate even more teams."
Wemby's debut: Spurs at Knicks, Noon ET
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.
鈥淗e's an amazing player, man," Hart said. 鈥淗e 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.鈥�
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.
鈥淏een fortunate to play on Christmas a lot of days," Spurs guard Chris Paul said. "I鈥檓 excited.鈥�
West rematch: Timberwolves at Mavericks, 2:30 p.m. ET
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.
鈥淚t鈥檚 special,鈥� said Doncic, who had a 50-point game on Christmas last year. 鈥淵ou have a lot of people from Europe want to watch the NBA. ... It鈥檚 a big thing. It鈥檚 going to be a special game.鈥�
Dallas beat Minnesota 4-1 in last year's West finals.
For Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, this is season No. 18 鈥� and his second Christmas game.
鈥淚t was 14 years before I got to play on it in Utah,鈥� Conley said. 鈥淚 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."
The rivalry renewed: 76ers at Celtics, 5 p.m. ET
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鈥檚 tough to interrupt family time on Christmas 鈥� but also said it鈥檚 fun that his children can watch their father play that day.
鈥淚t's an honor to be able to play on Christmas Day,鈥� Holiday said. 鈥淚 know I was one of the kids that couldn鈥檛 wait for Christmas games to come on. So, it鈥檚 always an honor.鈥�
LeBron vs. Steph: Lakers at Warriors, 8 p.m. ET
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.
鈥淚 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. 鈥淔or 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.
鈥淐hristmas spirit hopefully can bring some gifts our way with a win,鈥� Curry said.
The finale: Nuggets at Suns, 10:30 p.m. ET
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.
鈥淟ooking forward to this next game,鈥� Durant said.
The Nuggets know the Suns will want to avenge losing by 27, plus that the holiday brings out the best in players.
鈥淗opefully we can go into their spot on Christmas and get another win,鈥� Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 sure it鈥檒l be a tougher game.鈥�
___
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.
___
AP NBA:
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
