Will the Lakers and Clippers Play Each Other on Christmas Day?

The 2019-2020 NBA Regular Season schedule will be released in early August and will immediately draw considerable interest. That is the case in most seasons, but especially this year with so many players changing teams via trades and free agency. The media and fans will want to ‘circle’ the dates of key matchups between traditional–and not so traditional–rivals.

One of the most hotly anticipated components of the annual NBA schedule release is the Christmas Day games. Christmas Day NBA games are a tradition that dates back to 1947–a year after the birth of the league. The first NBA Christmas Day game was a matchup of the New York Knicks against the Providence Steamrollers at Madison Square Garden. In the early days, the Christmas Day matchups were dictated more by geographic proximity than anything else. By the mid-1980s and the start of the Michael Jordan era, the NBA realized that scheduling marquee matchups for Christmas Day was a very smart play. Compelling games between top rivals combined with a minimal amount of sports competition on television meant for a ton of media attention and high ratings.

The New York Knicks have played on Christmas Day more than any other team–a total of 54 times. Two current NBA teams have never played on Christmas Day–the Charlotte Hornets and Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies. On Christmas Day 2018 there were five games:

MILWAUKEE BUCKS AT NEW YORK KNICKS
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER AT HOUSTON ROCKETS
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS AT BOSTON CELTICS
LOS ANGELES LAKERS AT GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS AT UTAH JAZZ

BetOnline.ag is offering NBA proposition odds on the 2019-2020 Christmas Day schedule. More specifically:

WILL THE LAKERS PLAY THE CLIPPERS ON CHRISTMAS DAY?

Yes                                    -400
No                                     +250

Unless you have NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on your speed dial this is a prop that’s nearly impossible to handicap per se. On the other hand, based on everything we know about the way that the NBA schedules games on Christmas Day it sure looks like a ‘no brainer’ that the Clippers vs. the Lakers will be one of the 2019 matchups. First of all, it means both teams can spend Christmas at home. That’s the benefit of the Lakers and Clippers sharing the Staples Center.

More importantly, there’s not a bigger matchup in the NBA for the forthcoming season. The Lakers vs. the Warriors is always good but loses a lot of it’s appeal due to Golden State’s injury situation and failure to complete the ‘three-peat’. Were Kevin Durant not going to miss most of the 2019-2020 regular season as he recovers from injury the Lakers vs. Brooklyn would be a fun matchup. At least in recent years, however, the NBA has emphasized conference matchups. Another fun Western Conference matchup involving the Lakers would be a game against the New Orleans Pelicans–not only is it Anthony Davis’ former team with several former Lakers on the roster the ‘LeBron vs. Zion’ matchup would be compelling. Of course it could also be a mismatch at this point–LeBron is rightfully hailed as one of the best ever while Zion will be just a couple of months into his rookie year.

NBA Commish Silver doesn’t consult with me on these things but were I doing the schedule I’d make the Lakers v. Clippers on Christmas Day the first meeting of he year between the two Los Angeles teams. The marketing would just about take care of itself. The other four games could be:

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES VS. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
NEW YORK KNICKS VS. BROOKLYN NETS
UTAH JAZZ VS. PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS
MILWAUKEE BUCKS VS. TORONTO RAPTORS

BET LAKERS/CLIPPERS TO PLAY EACH OTHER ON CHRISTMAS DAY -400

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