On Thursday, the slate for 2024-25 NBA Christmas Day was revealed, and for the 21st straight year, the Sacramento Kings have been snubbed from the festivities.
NBA Christmas Day games for the 2024-25 season, per sources:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 9, 2024
🎄Spurs at Knicks
🎄Timberwolves at Mavericks
🎄76ers at Celtics
🎄Lakers at Warriors
🎄Nuggets at Suns
As the tweet above illustrates, on Christmas Day, the San Antonio Spurs will play the New York Knicks, the Minnesota Timberwolves will play the Dallas Mavericks, the Philadelphia 76ers will play the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers will play the Golden State Warriors, and the Denver Nuggets will play the Phoenix Suns.
History of NBA Christmas Day Games
The NBA on Christmas Day is a tale as old as time. In fact, the league has been playing games on December 25 every year since 1947 – one year after the league was conceived in 1946. Since December 25, 1947, the NBA has played basketball on Christmas every year except during the lockout in 1998.
Unlike the NFL on Thanksgiving, where the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions always play, there are no specific NBA teams that always get to play on Christmas Day. Every year, like they did this offseason, the league front office gets together and decides which teams and matchups will help maximize popularity and, more importantly, profits.
Sacramento Kings On Christmas Day
As we alluded to earlier, the Kings have not played on Christmas Day in quite some time. In this instance, "quite some time" means 2003. In that game, the Kings lost to the Mavericks (who did get a Christmas Day game) 111-103. The only other time they have played on December 25 in their franchise's history is the year before that (2002) when they beat the Lakers 105-99.
Overall, the Kings have a 1-1 record on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, the Kings won't have a chance to uneven that score this year.
Whose Spot Should The Kings Have Taken?
I always hate when someone says that a player/team is a snub and doesn't name the player/team that they should replace. As a result, I won't be doing the same.
To me, the answer to who the Kings should replace is simple: the Suns. The Kings may not have the top-end firepower that the Suns have, but we've already seen the limitations of their redundant trio. Sacramento has more chemistry, lineup versatility, and better role players. They should be considered the better team between the two in any Western Conference Power Rankings.
Yes, the Suns do have a mini-rivalry with the Nuggets, given their recent playoff bouts. But the Kings are basically the Nuggets' little brother, giving them a compelling storyline of their own.
Simply put, the Kings were snubbed from Christmas Day. Now, they need to use the 2024-25 season to make the league front office eat their words.