LeBron James is set to play his 20th Christmas Day game when the Los Angeles Lakers take on Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday. James was asked why the Christmas game still matters to him in his media session after Saturday’s 103-88 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, and his answer might surprise you.
“I’d much rather be at home with my family,” James said. “But I mean, it’s the game. It’s the game I love. It’s a game I watched when I was a kid on Christmas Day. Watching a lot of the greatest play the game on Christmas. Has always been an honor to play it.
“Obviously, I’m going be completely honest,” James continued. “I would like to be home on the couch with my family all throughout the day. But my number is called, our number is called, so we have to go out and perform, and looking forward to it.”
James has appeared a lot more excited about playing on Christmas in the past. The 40-year-old still acknowledges this is an honor, but he’d rather be with his wife, Savannah, and three children, Bronny, Bryce, and Zhuri, instead.
James sure is sounding more and more like someone who is inching closer to hanging it up. The 21-time All-Star has also been very open about just how much he is enjoying golf these days, so appreciate him while he’s still around.
As for these Christmas contests, James has averaged 26.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game in them over the course of his career. He is the league’s all-time leader for points (507) and victories (11).
James and the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 115-113 on Christmas last year. After the game, he declared that Christmas belonged to the NBA in response to the NFL holding two games earlier in the day. He doesn’t seem quite as exuberant this time, but he might be if this Rockets game turns out to be a classic like the Warriors one was.
This will be the fifth time that James and Durant face off on Christmas, and the former has won three of the four meetings so far. They last played against each other all the way back in 2018, so this has been a long time coming. If you’d told someone back then that both of them would still be playing at a high level in 2025, they’d have laughed in your face.
Durant is averaging 25.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game for the Rockets in 2025-26. The 37-year-old has been his usual efficient self too, shooting 50.9% from the field and 43.5% from beyond the arc.
As for James, he missed the first 14 games of the season due to sciatica and got off to a slow start as a result. There was talk about him potentially being past it, but he has put those concerns to bed now.
James had 36 points (15-28 FG), four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block against the Clippers. He is averaging 27.6 points over his last five games, and you now expect him to put on a show against the Rockets on Christmas.
Before that contest, though, the 19-8 Lakers take on the 15-13 Phoenix Suns at the Mortgage Matchup Center on Tuesday at 9 PM ET.
