Report: Nuggets will play Christmas Day game in 2022
Aug 14, 2022, 1:30 PM | Updated: 1:50 pm
Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
Nikola Jokic became the first NBA MVP not to play on Christmas day the following year, last season.
The league will fix that mistake this upcoming year as the back-to-back MVP, and the Denver Nuggets will host the Phoenix Suns on Christmas day, Mike Singer of the Denver Post reported Sunday.
This will be the Nuggets eighth ever game on Christmas day, an NBA tradition that goes back to 1947. Denver is 1-6 all-time in those games, with only three taking place at home. The Nuggets hosted the Clippers in front of no fans in 2020 and had the Pelicans in town in 2019 with a huge crowd.
This time around, the Nuggets are slated to face the Suns. Phoenix has had the best record in the western conference the last two seasons. In 2021, they swept the Nuggets in four games in the second round of the playoffs. Denver had already suffered a bunch of critical injuries that have plagued them for two seasons, and many wonder what that matchup would’ve looked like had the Nuggets been healthy.
Now we’ll likely get to see a true rematch.
The time for the game hasn’t been announced, but it’ll be a busy day in Denver sports with the Broncos facing the Rams in Los Angeles at 2:30 p.m.
If one were to guess, the Nuggets may get the late 8:30 p.m. m.t. tip, given the other matchups rumored to be involved are Mavs-Lakers and Grizz-Warriors. There will likely be a few more games on the slate. It’d be shocking if the Celtics, Heat, Nets or Bucks were not playing.
The entire NBA schedule may be released sometime this coming week.
