Report: Nuggets will be featured on Christmas Day again

The Denver Nuggets will be celebrating Christmas in the desert, according to Shams Charania. The Suns will host the Nuggets for a rematch of their legendary 2022 Christmas Day matchup. The Atthetlic reported the holiday slate late Thursday ahead of the NBA’s full schedule release.

This will be the fifth time the Nuggets play on Christmas in the last six years, showing they are one of the league’s premier teams—which is obvious since they won a title two seasons ago and their best player won last year’s MVP for a third time. That best player went nuclear the last time he saw the Suns on Christmas, as Nikola Jokic tallied a 41-point, 15-rebound, 15-assist triple-double in a Nuggets overtime win that was capped by the dunk of the year from Aaron Gordon. The game meant a lot since it was the first time Denver was whole facing the Suns, Jamal Murray was back, after being swept by the franchise in the playoffs.

The Suns will be playing on Dec. 25 for a fourth straight season and they’re winless on the day. Phoenix is hosting for a third time recently but is 12-9 on Christmas all-time. Denver is just 3-6 historically on Christmas with wins the last two years. In 2023, Denver hosted the Warriors and won as Steve Kerr threw a fit about the amount of free throws the Nuggets shot.

Christmas games in the NBA go back to 1947, here’s the rest of the holiday schedule per Shams:

Spurs at New York Knicks
Minnesota Timberwolves at Dallas Mavericks
Philadelphia 76ers at Celtics
Lakers at Golden State Warriors

We should know the full Nuggets schedule very soon but no doubt the Suns game will be circled especially given Kevin Durant’s antics overnight.