NBA has owned Christmas Day in the sports world for years and 2025 is no different. Five games are on tap Thursday for another all-day holiday NBA betting feast.
We went back to the 2008-09 season – when the NBA started having five games on Christmas – to find out how teams that played on Dec. 25 fared the rest of the season. The Lakers are the only team that has played on Christmas each of the past 17 years, since the league started its now annual tradition of a holiday quintuple-header.
How Recent NBA Christmas Day Game Participants Fared
Finish | No. Of Times | Pct. Of Time |
Won NBA Title | 14 | 8.2% |
Reached NBA Finals | 26 | 15.3% |
Won a Playoff Series | 86 | 50.6% |
Reached Playoffs | 136 | 80.0% |
Missed Playoffs | 34 | 20.0% |
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How Do NBA Teams Fare After Playing On Christmas?
Dating back to the late aughts, teams that competed on Christmas Day have seen their share of success come playoff time. Over the past 17 years, 14 teams (or 8.2% of the total number of Dec. 25 teams) won the NBA Finals after playing on Dec. 25. Another 12 reached the Finals, for 26 total finalists (or 15.3%) emerging from the Christmas slate.
Last year's games were the rare ones that did not include either eventual conference champion, as the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder watched the five Christmas games on TV like the rest of us.
The 
Thunder, a solid favorite to repeat as champions at top NBA betting apps, play on Dec. 25 this year along with nine other teams.
On Dec. 25, 2024, the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets competed. Looking back, 2024 was the first year since 2018 that the year-end NBA champion did not play on Christmas Day. The only other time that happened since the 2008-09 season was in 2010.
The TV slates on Christmas tend to feature not only popular teams, but successful ones. Just more than half (50.6%, or 86 teams in total) went on to win a postseason series after playing on Dec. 25 and 136 of them (80.0%) made the playoffs – something to bear in mind for NBA futures wagering. Just 34 out of 170 squads (20%) failed to reach the 16-team postseason field.
NBA Christmas Games: Who Is Playing On Thursday?
This Thursday, the NBA's golden day of regular season competition sees the defending champion Thunder host the San Antonio Spurs at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. Before that, the New York Knicks host the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Knicks play in the opening slot on Christmas for the fifth consecutive year.
Throw in a 5 p.m. matinee between the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks in San Francisco, an 8 p.m. tip with the Houston Rockets visiting the Los Angeles Lakers and a 10:30 p.m. nightcap pitting the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Nuggets in Denver and you have this year's Xmas Day slate covered. The entire lineup is on both ABC and ESPN.
As for NBA Christmas Day betting lines, the Thunder (a 10.5-point favorite against the Spurs) owns the largest advantage on DraftKings Sportsbook as of Dec. 23. Reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (above) has led the Thunder to a league-best 26-3 start.
The Rockets and Nuggets (both 4.5-point favorites) are giving the fewest points among favored teams at the sportsbook, with the Knicks (-5.5) and Warriors (-7.5) in between as professional basketball fans ready themselves for a full day of hardwood action across the country.
Looking forward, Oklahoma City is the overwhelming 2026 NBA Championship betting favorite, with the best odds (+110) as of Dec. 23 available for customers using the BetMGM bonus code. Other Christmas Day teams are contenders with the operator too: The Nuggets are second at +650, followed by the Rockets (+1200) and Knicks (+1300).
The 
Lakers (+1400), playing on Christmas Day for the 26th consecutive year (dating back before our research for this story began), round out the top five.
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