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Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic will make his Christmas Day debut against world champion Los Angeles Lakers in a series of tentative holiday game blockbusters, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The NBA is tentatively scheduled to open its 2020-21 season on December 22. But Christmas Day will once again feature flagship NBA games to kick off the season.
In addition to Doncic playing for the first time this Christmas against LeBron James and the defending Champions in Los Angeles (8 p.m. ET), Zion Williamson is set to make his Christmas debut when the New Orleans Pelicans launch the animated holiday games. by the stars with a visit to Miami to play defending Eastern Conference champion Heat (noon ET). The Pelicans played over Christmas last year, but an injured Williamson missed that game against Denver.
After that game, Stephen Curry returns to the Christmas scene when the Golden State Warriors visit Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks (2:30 p.m. ET). Curry missed most of last season after hand surgery. While he will have to play this season without his teammate Klay Thompson (absent for the season after the Achilles operation), Curry will have his new big man, the second choice to General James Wiseman, to help fight the double Antetokounmpo. MVP.
Nets star tandem Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are also set to make their Christmas Day debut when Brooklyn takes on the Boston Celtics (5 p.m. ET). The Nets start the season with huge expectations with Durant and Irving finally playing together while being coached by rookie head coach Steve Nash. Durant was out all last season as he recovered from a fractured right Achilles suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals. It will be Irving’s first game in Boston since joining the Nets. in free agency in July 2019.
The NBA will certainly be hoping that Doncic and James face off in today’s demo game, but James, 35, will be just over 10 weeks away to help the Lakers win the championship in Game 6 of the final against the NBA. heat. October 11. The Lakers, who added the sixth man of the year Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schroder in free agency, may choose to relieve James in the season.
The LA Clippers will end the night by traveling to Denver to face the Nuggets (10:30 p.m. ET). When these two teams last met in the Orlando, Florida bubble in September, the Nuggets shocked the Clippers by erasing a 3-1 series deficit and beating the popular pick to win it all in the second round of the playoffs. This astonishing collapse led to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer parting ways with coach Doc Rivers and replacing him with Ty Lue. Lue and a new coaching staff are hoping to unlock Clippers’ chemistry and incorporate the addition of free agents Serge Ibaka alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Ibaka and Leonard won a championship together in Toronto in 2019.
Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic will look to take the next step and compete for a championship after leading the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals.
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