The NBA unveiled its 2026-27 Christmas Day schedule Tuesday, headlined by a rematch of last season's Finals and LeBron James making his 21st career Christmas appearance — an NBA record — this time in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform against his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

All five games will air on ABC/ESPN, starting with the San Antonio Spurs visiting the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden at noon ET — a rematch of the 2026 NBA Finals and the Knicks' 59th all-time Christmas Day game, according to NBA.com. The two teams also met on Christmas in 2024, with New York winning 117-114.

The Full Slate

The rest of the day runs: Miami Heat at Boston Celtics (2:30 p.m. ET), Philadelphia 76ers at Los Angeles Lakers (5 p.m. ET), Oklahoma City Thunder at Minnesota Timberwolves (8 p.m. ET), and Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors (10:30 p.m. ET), according to ESPN.

James, now with Philadelphia after a summer move, already holds the record for most career Christmas points with 525 and could break Oscar Robertson's longstanding holiday assist record of 145 this season. The Lakers matchup gives him an early measuring-stick game against the franchise he spent the past several seasons with, guaranteeing outsized attention for a game slotted in the middle of the five-game window.

LEBRON'S 21ST CHRISTMAS GAME — NO ONE ELSE IS CLOSE

The slate is stacked with star power beyond James. Reigning Finals MVP-caliber names like Nikola Jokić, who put up a 56-point triple-double in last year's Christmas game, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson are all featured across the five matchups, according to CBS Sports.

The Christmas slate is traditionally the NBA's marquee non-playoff showcase of the season, drawing the league's biggest television audience outside the Finals. This year's lineup leans heavily on 2026 Finals storylines and James' latest team change to draw eyeballs during the holiday ratings period, with the league scheduling its two biggest storylines — a title rematch and a legend switching teams — back to back on the same afternoon.

The full 2026-27 regular-season schedule, including opening night matchups, is expected to be released in the coming days.

League schedule-makers have leaned on the same formula for years: pair title contenders and marquee stars on the NBA's one guaranteed national holiday audience, then let storylines do the rest. This year's version doubles down on James specifically — his move to Philadelphia over the summer reshuffled the league's power rankings and instantly made every one of his games against a former team appointment viewing, and the league wasted no time slotting the Lakers reunion into the day's biggest window.

The Knicks-Spurs opener carries its own built-in drama beyond the Finals rematch angle: Wembanyama's continued ascension as a two-way force has made San Antonio appointment viewing on its own, giving the network a marquee matchup to open the day before handing off to James in the late afternoon slot. Networks have increasingly used the Christmas slate to preview which rivalries they expect to define the rest of the season, and this year's five-game set suggests ABC and ESPN are betting heavily on both storylines carrying into the spring.