Dec 25, 2025
3 min read
Some love him, some hate him;NBA stars and coaches share their stories about playing on Christmas Day.
Some love it, some hate it;NBA stars and coaches share their stories about the game on Christmas
For Doc Rivers, the memories of the Christmas games are blurry.
Since 1984, Rivers has played or coached in Christmas 17 times.When recounting two stories about his favorite Christmas moments, the Milwaukee Bucks coach naturally turned to the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, but he wasn't entirely sure if any of those memories were actually Christmas.
Former Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers tells his favorite story: During a road trip, he charged each member of the Celtics team $100 and hid the money in the ceiling of the visiting team's locker room at Lakers Stadium.
He also thought Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson's Lakers game in retro shorts against the Celtics would happen on Christmas.(That was December 30, 2007, close enough to coincide with Christmas.) The Celtics and Lakers met on the same day in 2008.holiday
Rivers vividly remembers the mixture of love and hate that comes with playing on Christmas Day.
"I played a lot of games over Christmas," Rivers told ESPN."It's different. I love it and I hate it at the same time because spending time with family is very important.
"But there's nothing better. It's the most winning game. On Christmas afternoon, when you finish that game and win it, you go home to your family. It's an incredible day. I've had some really good ones."
The 10 teams playing on the main holiday stage must adapt their family Christmas traditions to the game day routine at home or sacrifice opening gifts with loved ones if they play away.
As a result, the Golden State Warriors, who will play the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day for the thirteenth year in a row,will be played on the road on Dec. 25. While LeBron and Bronny James have a chance to play together again on Christmas Day, the Lakers father and son duo have not yet scheduled a celebration for the James family regarding the engagement.
The NBA tries to make the practice as strict as possible by giving coaches and players gifts, such as a nice leather wallet, bag or e-gift.
"You wake up in room 736 and forget it's Christmas," Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr told ESPN about what it's like to play on the road on Christmas Day. "You'll see a message from Eric Howson (Warriors team vice president) saying, 'Merry Christmas.'
"When you go to the stadium, there's always a gift from (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver, which is great. And you play and everybody in the stadium comes home on Christmas morning, so you celebrate and think about your family and wish you were home. But that's the problem. That's what we do."
Players and coaches who play on Christmas agree with Kerr and Reverse that this is an honor.Christmas play skills, especially far from home, can make some people feel like grandchildren.
"If it's an afternoon game, we throw a big dinner," Rivers said.If it's the last game of the day, it's a hot day.That's about spending time waiting at home and going to the game.
With Christmas around the corner, stars and coaches are sharing their Christmas stories, feelings and even excuses about playing on Santa's arrival with ESPN.
BRONY JAMES, 21, can't remember a time when he didn't see his dad play on Christmas Day.Like Brony, an entire generation grew up watching LeBron James record 19 plays on December 25 since his rookie season in 2003, including the last 18 days of Christmas.
This means that the Jacobites shared their ancestors with the world on every holiday
"You were just trying to hope that toy was in the house so we could have it at home for Christmas," Bronny told ESPN.But we always come home and open presents in the morning.If it's not there, we wait or do it the day before.So it was always like flipping a coin.But we try to do it (at Christmas) whenever possible.
Last Christmas was historic when a father and son became the first players to become teammates for the holiday.Although Bronny did not play, he watched his father eclipse Stephen Curry for Golden State with 31 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block.
"I'd rather be home with my family," said Lebron on Saturday."But here's the game. This is the game I love. This is the game I was watching as a kid on Christmas Day, and I'm watching many of the best players. It's always an honor to play. Obviously I will be honest, I would love to be home, on the couch with my family, all day. But they call me, they look forward to playing.
Regardless of which day James' family celebrates Christmas, Zhuri, the youngest daughter, always starts the festivities.
- The jury gets up at 6 o'clock in the morning and is already waiting for us downstairs, - said Broni."We got there about an hour later and he's pissed because we're late. He's just sitting there looking at the presents."LeBron has the most points (507), second-most assists (137) and sixth-most rebounds (143) on Christmas Day, but that has led to Christmas family celebrations being combined with the games.
"I wasn't too disappointed," Brony said."I mean, yeah, a little, but I knew why. So it wasn't a problem for me, and when he came back, we always found a way to celebrate somehow. Of course, the whole family wanted to get together for Christmas. It was hard at times. Especially for my mom (Savannah), I had to make different plans.
"My brothers and my mom are always together at Christmas. But planning something different so that we can all be together at the same time is something that most people don't have to deal with. So it was definitely a bit stressful for the whole family, but we did it.
With LeBron, 40, deciding to retire and take a break from his Christmas career, Bronny may be dealing with what happened to his father nearly every Christmas of his playing career.
"It's almost time for me to go and these kids are left at home (without me)," Bronny said."So that's something we have to think about."
More than three decades later, the best ending to a game between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls remains a Christmas dream for Kerr.
With 3.3 seconds left and the Bulls clinging to a 100-97 lead, in Chicago on Dec. 25, 1994, Anthony Mason layup to Kerr, who was standing to the right of the basket.
So he tried to pass the ball to one of his teammates.
"I threw it right to Hubert Davis (Knicks guard)," Kerr told ESPN, still disappointed in himself decades ago.
"One of the worst nightmares of my career."
Luckily for Kerr, Scottie Pippen saved him with one of his best Christmas performances.Pippen scored all seven of Chicago's points in overtime and had two late blocks to keep the Knicks up 107-104.Pippen, who had 36 points, 16 rebounds and 5 steals in 53 minutes, hugged an almost contrite Kerr after the game.
Michael Jordan, who will come out of retirement after this season, may not be so forgiving.
"He would have been better," said Kerr, who played in five Christmas games.
"The problem is, every Christmas, when they start showing (old) games on NBA TV, they show it. I wonder, are they going to leave me alone?"
Like many, Curry's Christmas tradition as a child was spent watching basketball.
So, when it was his turn to play on the Christmas stage, Curry understood the moment.
"It's a blessing because you understand that being one of the 10 teams in the playoffs means you're marketable," Curry told ESPN."The experience is fun. Before the season, that's the biggest time in the NBA before the year is over. I definitely felt a different energy."
This Christmas will mark the 13th consecutive year the Warriors have played on this day, with Curry participating in all three games.But until recently, Curry couldn't find a shot on Christmas Day.In his first eight Christmas games, Curry shot a combined 35-for-116 (30.2%), including 10-for-49 (20.4%) from three-point range.In his first two Christmas games, he went 23-for-27 from the field.
"I don't have a favorite," Curry said when asked about his favorite memory from playing this season."Traditionally, I haven't played too well on Christmas Day to have these memories."
One of Draymond Green's favorite Christmas memories came when he was suspended indefinitely from Jusuf Nurkic in 2023. Green was disillusioned, considered retirement, and had to rediscover basketball.
But during that 12-game suspension, Green was able to spend a very happy Christmas at home with his children and family, something he said was good for him at the time.
"It was fun. It was really amazing," Green told ESPN."Usually, it's strange, because Christmas Day is not the same as you remember when you are a child, when you spend time with your family. We have been on tour (five times, once Green was stopped). I know that on the first Christmas of my 5-year-old son, I was not there".
Instead of being with his team in Denver on Christmas 2023, Green was able to open presents at home with his children.The only time he didn't suit up was when the Warriors played on Christmas Day in 2020 when a foot injury kept him on the bench in Milwaukee in street clothes.
Green said when he has to play on Christmas, he sometimes gets the itch and lets his kids open a present before fully celebrating when he gets home from a game.But while Green is only one of 10 players to record a triple-double on Christmas, playing at the holiday can often make him as miserable as Scrooge.
"As an NBA player, you want to be in that situation: the big game with everyone watching," Green said."But as a person, he is f---, honest.
"When I was a kid, I loved watching NBA games on Christmas. Kobe Bryant and White (Laker) jerseys. I loved (Shaquille O'Neal). But the NFL started playing on Christmas, so maybe they'll take Christmas and we'll go home."
Waking up in the wee hours of the afternoon for a regular season weekend game can be a bad experience for many NBA players.For Josh Hart, the Knicks' traditional early rise is perfect timing for Christmas games, especially since he now has 2½-year-olds.
"Christmas is magical now," Hart told ESPN."The best Christmas game is the 12 o'clock game because you spend the morning completely absorbed in the game and basketball and things like that. I love it. You wake up, eat breakfast, go to kindergarten, go to work, hopefully win and then you can celebrate Christmas."
This will be Hart's seventh Christmas play.He has attended Christmas games as a Laker, Pelican and now as a Knicksbocker.
His most memorable Christmas game was with the Lakers in a 127-101 win over the Warriors in 2018. It was James' first Christmas game in Los Angeles, but the star suffered a hamstring injury during the win.Rajon Rondo came off the bench with 15 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds.
"We beat the Warriors with Steph, Klay (Thompson), (Kevin Durant), Draymond," Hart said."LeBron got hurt. Rondo became the Rondo of the playoffs and pretty much led us to victory. Unfortunately, he broke his finger. I gave him a bottle of 2009 Harlan [(Estate) wine, which he opened on the plane. That's what inspired me to get into wine."
A year later, Hart exclaimed, "Oh, it's no use!"After being traded from the Lakers to New Orleans, Hart, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram took the Pelicans to the Christmas stage, but it was the last game of the night against the Denver Nuggets.Although the Pelicans won 112-100, they were in Denver after the game.The Pelicans, like many visiting teams, chose not to fly out until the next day to rest, arriving home at 3 in the morning.
While the team flew family members to Denver and had a Christmas party at a hotel the night before the game, Hart said all he and some Pelicans players wanted for Christmas was a private jet back to New Orleans after the game.
"The 8:30 p.m. game in Denver was the worst game," said Hart, who had a 4-2 Christmas record."We were thinking, 'How are we going to get back?'
It's been four years since Donovan Mitchell last played on Christmas Day.
He scored 33 points and outsome Jalen Brunson, who scored 27, at the Utah Jazz's 120-116 Christmas win over the 2021 Mavericks.
This Christmas, they will be back when Mitchell's Cleveland Cavaliers visit the New York Knicks Brunson at Madison Square Garden.
"I love playing Christmas!""It means we're doing something right as a team, right?
“I remember being at my grandma's house, waking up at 12, staying up until 12, watching basketball all day, so it's pretty special to be a part of that.
Mitchell's routine during his first two Christmas games with the Jazz was to keep everything as normal as possible. He prepared like any other game day. That meant celebrating Christmas either the day before or the day after. Christmas is his mother's birthday.
But since the Cavaliers' game against the Knicks is the first game of the day, Mitchell will then be able to celebrate with his family and open gifts at home in the New York area.
Mitchell, who grew up in New York and Connecticut, dreamed of playing in the garden at Christmas.
“That’s something I never take for granted,” Mitchell said.“Because not everyone can say they played on Christmas Day, especially at Madison Square Garden like we did.
"It will be special."
This story uses information from ESPN's Jamal Collier and Dave McMenamin.
