The NBA Christmas Day Slate Is Out And It's Pretty Shocking Who Didn't Make The Cut

With NBA schedules officially coming out in a few days, we got our first look at this year's Christmas Day slate which I always find fascinating. It's a great look into how the league views certain teams/players, and for the most part, the matchups they go with almost always deliver. 

For the 2024-25 season, their selections are certainly interesting

Of course you're getting the Knicks at MSG, a Christmas Day staple. Of course you're getting the defending champs at home, not all that surprising. While they may both be playing in the Play In, we only have so many Steph vs LeBron moments left before they ride off into the sunset, so that's a no brainer for the West Coast games. We got the two young rising stars in Ant vs Luka in a WCF rematch which could have seeding implications. Ending with Jokic vs KD also isn't a bad way to go to close things out, so on the surface all of these matchups make sense.

You have the recent MVPs, you have the Champs, you have the legends, you have the future faces of the league. Hard to argue this isn't an awesome slate assuming everyone is healthy.

And yet, there are some OBVIOUS snubs that were pretty shocking when I first saw this list. For starters, where's Giannis? Did Adam Silver forget that guy exists? Or do he and the Bucks simply not move the needle anymore? He's arguably a top 2-3 player on the planet, his resume speaks for itself, and the NBA doesn't have that guy on their marquee day? 

That seemed a little crazy, but I guess Wemby has more juice? Is that a better matchup than a Knicks/Bucks game considering both will be competing for similar seeding in the East? I get wanting to market Wemby and him at MSG is sick, but that feels a little disrespectful to a team many think will be a contender.

The other notable snub of course is the Thunder. A team many think is going to be leading the Western Conference for the second straight season. They seem to be a team that checks all the boxes for a game like this, they have an MVP candidate, they play an awesome style, they're really fucking good, and yet they get passed over as well.

I would understand the "small market" argument and how Christmas Day is for the big markets, but I also see MIN, SA, DEN on that list, so that's a bit confusing. None of those are "big markets", and with Jokic being an obvious nod, why is the best team in the conference with an MVP candidate being snubbed? I guess this was the NBA telling us that Wemby > a potential #1 seed/MVP candidate which is pretty crazy. I get that someone has to be left out when you can only pick 10 teams, but I also think this day should be about creating the best games possible, and as awesome as Wemby is, the Spurs are probably going to win around 30 games next year if they're lucky (won 22 last season). 

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While not as sexy, I'm also surprised we didn't get something like IND/MIL or IND/NYK for the early game. I'm not sure why there's this idea that the Pacers aren't good, when they just made an ECF run after having the best offense in the league. They're legit, and there's definitely some juice in either of those matchups. They feel like the perfect type of team to put in the early window as a team that could absolutely make a leap into being a top 4 team in the East next season.