Lakers to travel to Warriors as part of Christmas Day schedule – Orange County Register

On the same day that LeBron James and Steph Curry led the U.S. men’s basketball team to a thrilling semifinal victory over Serbia to secure their spot in the Paris Olympics gold medal game against France, it was revealed that their respective NBA teams will have a marquee matchup on Christmas Day.

The Lakers will travel to San Francisco to play the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 25, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Thursday. The game is likely to tip off around 5:15 p.m. PT.

It will be the second time the Lakers and Warriors have met on Christmas in the past seven years, with the Lakers beating the Warriors on Dec. 25, 2018 in James’ first season with the Lakers.

In addition to the 2018 matchup, James and Curry’s teams met on Christmas Day for three consecutive seasons (2015-17) when James was with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Curry did not play in the 2017 game.

The NBA’s Christmas Day schedule will reportedly feature five games and the league’s biggest stars, as is usually the case. Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs will play the New York Knicks, the Minnesota Timberwolves will play the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of the Western Conference Finals, the Philadelphia 76ers will play the reigning NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, and Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets will travel to Phoenix to take on Kevin Durant and the Suns.

The full regular season schedule will be released later this month.