NBA Christmas Day Schedule 2022-23: Lakers vs. Mavericks, Warriors vs. Grizzlies among matchups, per report
Sun, Aug 14, 2022
NBA News (AP)
The 2022-23 NBA schedule is expected to be released in the coming days, but there's already been several leaks of important games on the league's calendar. It's already been reported the reigning champion Golden State Warriors are LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on opening night of the season, which is set for Oct. 18.
In addition to one of the opening-night games on the league's calendar, several Christmas Day matchups have also been reported. As one of the most important days on the NBA's calendar, these games are typically star-studded and sometimes feature rematches from the previous year's playoffs or pit two of the league's top stars against each other. Though the regular season will already be two months old by the time Christmas rolls around, the full slate of games also serves as the unofficial start of the NBA season for some casual fans.
Although nothing has been made official just yet, here are three of the games expected to take place on Christmas:
- Golden State Warriors vs. Memphis Grizzlies
- Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Lakers
- Denver Nuggets vs. Phoenix Suns
The NBA has certainly hit the mark in featuring some of the league's top stars, both young and old, and all three of these reported matchups have enticing storylines.'
The Warriors vs. Grizzlies game will be a rematch of the Western Conference semifinals last season, where both teams didn't shy away from trash-talking, even well after the Warriors put the Grizzlies away. When the Warriors eventually won the championship, several Golden State players made sure to take some not-so-subtle jabs at the Grizzlies, including Draymond Green and Ja Morant hoping their two teams meet on Christmas Day. Well, Green and Morant got their wish, and that matchup will surely be a highly anticipated one.
Though the Lakers and Mavericks don't have the playful trash-talking the Warriors and Grizzlies possess, it will feature the face of the league in LeBron James, and one of the future faces of the league in Luka Doncic. These two teams met on Christmas two seasons ago, which resulted in the Mavericks getting blown out in Los Angeles, but a lot has happened since that dud of a matchup in 2020. The Mavericks are coming off a run to the Western Conference finals due to Doncic's MVP-level performance throughout the playoffs, and the Lakers will be trying to get back to the playoffs after missing the cut last season. It's difficult to read how this game will play out given both teams could still make roster moves before this game, but it should be more entertaining than the matchup we got two seasons ago.
The third reported game on this list may be a preview of the Western Conference finals as the Nuggets play host to the Suns. Denver should be fully healthy with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. expected to be back in the starting lineup after both players missed all of last season with injuries. Then there's reigning two-time league MVP Nikola Jokic at the center of it all. He will have some help again as Denver hopes to prove its place in the championship-contending conversation. The Nuggets will reportedly be hosting the Suns, per the Denver Post, which is a rematch of the Western Conference semifinals from two seasons ago. The Nuggets were without Murray in that playoff series against the Suns, so now they'll get to show Phoenix what it's like playing against a Denver team at full strength.
