CHRISTMAS DAY GAME memories are a blur for Doc Rivers.
Since 1984, Rivers has played or coached on Christmas a total of 17 times. As he recounted two stories about his favorite Christmas moments, the Milwaukee Bucks head coach naturally turned to the Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry -- but he wasn't completely sure whether one of the memories was actually on Christmas.
Rivers, the former Boston head coach, told one of his favorite tales: He famously collected $100 from every member of the Celtics' traveling party on a road trip and stashed the money in the ceiling of the visitors locker room at the Lakers' home arena. (Rivers' legendary motivational tactic actually took place after a February regular-season game against the Lakers in 2010, and the Celtics returned to collect that money in the NBA Finals).
He also thought it was possible that the time Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson's Lakers came out in retro short shorts against Rivers' Celtics could've happened on Christmas. (It was on Dec. 30, 2007, close enough to blend into Christmas). The Celtics and Lakers did play each other on the holiday in 2008.
What Rivers does remember in exact detail is the "love-hate" nature of playing on the holiday.
"I've had a lot of Christmas games," Rivers explained to ESPN. "It's different. I love it and hate it at the same time because having time with your family, it's so important.
"But also, there's nothing better. It's the most favorite game to win. On a Christmas afternoon, when you finish that game and you win -- you come home with your family. It's just an amazing day. I've had some great ones."
The 10 teams that play on the marquee holiday stage must fit their Christmas Day family traditions around their game-day routine at home or sacrifice opening gifts with loved ones on Christmas if they are on the road.
That is why the Golden State Warriors -- who will be playing for a 13th consecutive time on Christmas against the Dallas Mavericks -- will have family members fly to join them on the road trip. While LeBron and Bronny James have the opportunity to play together on Christmas again, the Lakers' father-son duo still has to schedule the James family's festivities around their matchup.
The NBA tries to make working on the holiday feel as celebratory as possible by giving the coaches and players a present, like a nice leather wallet, a bag or an electronic gift.
"You wake up in Room 736 and you forget that it's Christmas," Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told ESPN of what it's like to play a road game on Christmas. "And you look at your text from Eric Hausen [Warriors vice president of team operations] saying, 'Merry Christmas.' And you're like, 'Oh yeah, it's Christmas.' You go down for your meeting in the third-floor ballroom, and everybody says 'Merry Christmas' and you do the scouting report and it's just bizarre.
"You go to the arena, there's always a gift from [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver, which is nice. And then you play and everybody in the arena is festive because they're coming from their Christmas morning and you're thinking about your own family and wishing you were at home. But that's the deal. That's what we sign up for."
Players and coaches who have games on Christmas agree with Kerr and Rivers that it's an honor. But playing on the holiday, especially on the road, can also leave some feeling like the Grinch.
"We do a huge dinner if it's an afternoon game," Rivers said. "If it's the last game of the day, it's just a s---ty day. As far as you spend time waiting around during the day at home and then you go to the game."
As this Christmas approaches, stars and coaches share with ESPN their Christmas tales, yuletide feelings and even gripes about playing on Santa's day.
Jump to a tale:
A James Family Christmas
The Kerr Nightmare (on) Christmas
A Green Christmas Miracle
All I want for Christmas is a PJ
Mitchell's Holiday Special
BRONNY JAMES, 21, doesn't remember a time when he didn't watch his father play on Christmas. Like Bronny, an entire generation has grown up watching LeBron James play a record 19 times on Dec. 25 since his 2003 debut season, including the past 18 Christmas Days.
That also means the James family has shared their patriarch with the world every holiday.
"You just tried to hope that game was home so we could have him home for Christmas," Bronny told ESPN. "But we always go home to our house and open presents in the morning. If he's not there, then we'll wait or do it the day before. So, it's always been kind of like a coin flip. But we try to make it happen [on Christmas Day] as much as possible."
Last Christmas was historic: The father-son duo became the first to be teammates for a game on the holiday. While Bronny did not play, he watched Dad outshine Stephen Curry at Golden State with 31 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block.
"I'd much rather be at home with my family," LeBron said Saturday. "But it's the game. It's the game I love. It's the game I watched when I was a kid on Christmas Day, watching a lot of the greatest to play the game. It's always been an honor to play it. "Obviously, I'm going to be completely honest, I would like to be home on the couch with my family all throughout the day. But my number is called, our numbers are called, so we have to go out and perform. And I look forward to it."
No matter what day the James family celebrates Christmas every year, Zhuri, the youngest daughter, always gets the festivities started.
"Zhuri will be up at 6 in the morning and already downstairs waiting for us," Bronny said. "We'll come down like an hour later, and she'll be mad that we're so late. Just sitting there staring at the presents."
LeBron has the most points (507), second-most assists (137) and fifth-most rebounds (143) on Christmas Day, but it has come at the price of having to fit the family's Christmas celebration around the games.
"I never really was bummed out [too much]," Bronny said. "I mean, I was, kind of, but I knew why. So it wasn't really a problem for me, and we always found a way to celebrate it somehow when he was back. But of course, every family wants to be together on Christmas. It was difficult sometimes. Especially for my mom [Savannah], just having to plan something else.
"... My siblings and my mom are always together on Christmas. But just having to plan something else to where we can all be together at the same time. It's just something extra that a lot of people don't got to deal with that. So it was definitely a little stressful on the whole family, but we made it happen."
Whenever LeBron, 40, decides to retire and end his Christmas streak, perhaps Bronny will have to go through what his father has had to do almost every Christmas of his playing career.
"Time is about to come where I might be the one away and these guys are going to be home [without me]," Bronny said. "So, it's something that we got to figure out."
OVER THREE DECADES later, one of the best finishes to a New York Knicks-Chicago Bulls game is still a Christmas nightmare for Kerr.
With 3.3 seconds left on the clock and the Bulls clinging to a 100-97 lead in Chicago on Dec. 25, 1994, Anthony Mason sent his full-court inbounds heave sailing straight to Kerr, who was to the right of the basket. The then-Bulls shooter jumped to catch the basketball but was worried he was going to fall and be called for a travel.
So he tried tapping the ball to a teammate.
"I threw it right to [Knicks guard] Hubert Davis," Kerr told ESPN, still disgusted with himself all these decades later. "And he made a 3 to send it to overtime. It was the biggest mistake I've ever made. It was a huge gaffe. It was just dumb.
"One of the biggest nightmares of my career."
On Dec. 25, 1994, Bulls guard Steve Kerr tapped a long inbounds pass away, but it went to Knicks guard Hubert Davis for a tying triple.
Fortunately for Kerr, Scottie Pippen saved him with one of the best Christmas performances. Pippen scored all seven of Chicago's points in overtime and had two game-clinching blocks at the end to hold off the Knicks 107-104. Pippen, who had 36 points, 16 rebounds and five steals while playing all 53 minutes, hugged an almost apologetic Kerr after the game.
Michael Jordan, who would come out of retirement later that season, might not have been as forgiving.
"I would've been the goat," said Kerr, who played in five Christmas games. "Not the good GOAT. The bad goat. It worked out, but it was humiliating. It was just the dumbest play. I still don't quite know why I did it.
"The problem is now every Christmas Day when they start playing [vintage] games on NBA TV, they still show that. I'm like, f---, would you guys leave me alone?"
LIKE SO MANY, Curry's Christmas tradition growing up was to spend the day watching basketball.
So when it was his turn to play on the Christmas stage, Curry understood the moment.
"It's a blessing because you understand being one of the 10 teams that play means you're marketable," Curry told ESPN. "The experience of playing in the game is fun. ... Before the in-season tournament, that was the NBA's biggest moment before the turn of the calendar year. Definitely felt like a different energy around it."
This Christmas will mark the Warriors' 13th consecutive year playing on the holiday, with Curry playing in all but two of them. But until recently, Curry couldn't find his shot on Christmas. In his first eight Christmas games, Curry shot a combined 35-for-116 (29.3%), including just 10-for-49 (20.4%) from 3. His first two Christmas outings saw him miss 23 of 27 shots.
"I don't have a favorite," Curry said when asked about his favorite memory of playing on the holiday. "I have traditionally not played great on Christmas Day, so bringing up great memories."
One of Draymond Green's favorite Christmas memories came during his indefinite suspension for striking Jusuf Nurkic in 2023. Green was frustrated, contemplated retirement and had to rediscover his drive for basketball.
But during that 12-game suspension, Green got to spend a truly merry Christmas at home with his kids and family -- something he said was good for his soul at the time.
"That was great. It was actually f---ing amazing," Green told ESPN. "Usually it's weird because Christmas Day is not like what you remember as a kid, where you spend with your family. We've been on the road [five times, once when Green was suspended]. I know my 5-year-old's first Christmas, I was gone."
Instead of being with his team in Denver that Christmas in 2023, Green got to open gifts with his kids at home. The only other time he did not suit up when the Warriors played on Christmas came in 2020 when a foot injury kept him on the bench in street clothes in Milwaukee.
Green said that when he has to play on Christmas, he sometimes will "scratch the itch" and let his kids unwrap a gift before fully celebrating once he is home after the game. But even though Green is just one of 10 players to record a Christmas Day triple-double, playing on the holiday can often make him feel as miserable as Scrooge.
"As an NBA player, you want to be on that stage -- marquee games and everybody's watching," Green said. "But as a human, it f---ing sucks, if I'm honest.
"... I absolutely loved as a kid watching NBA games on Christmas Day. Kobe Bryant and the white [Lakers] jerseys. I loved [Shaquille O'Neal]. ... But the NFL has started having games on Christmas Day, so maybe they take Christmas over and we go home."
Dave McMenamin sits down with Lakers star Luka Doncic to discuss his NBA goals and personal life.
WAKING UP EARLY for a noon tipoff on a regular-season weekend game can be the worst for many NBA players. For Josh Hart, the Knicks' traditional early start is the perfect time to play on Christmas, especially now that he has two boys who are two-and-a-half.
"Now Christmas is magical," Hart told ESPN. "The best Christmas game is the 12 o'clock because you get the morning obviously consumed about the game, basketball and stuff like that. I love it. You wake up, get some breakfast, head to the Garden, get your work, hopefully get a win, and then you get to celebrate Christmas."
This will be Hart's seventh Christmas game. He's played in the holiday game as a Laker, Pelican and now Knickerbocker.
His most memorable Christmas game was with the Lakers when they knocked off the Warriors 127-101 in 2018. It was James' first Christmas game with L.A., but the star sustained a groin injury in the win. Rajon Rondo stepped in with 15 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds off the bench.
"We beat that Warriors team with Steph, Klay [Thompson], [Kevin Durant], Draymond," Hart said. "LeBron got hurt. Rondo turned into Playoff Rondo and kind of led us to that win. He unfortunately broke his [finger]. I gave him an '09 bottle of Harlan [Estate wine] that he opened on the plane. That kind of really got me into wine."
The following year had Hart saying "Bah humbug." After being traded from the Lakers to New Orleans, Hart, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram had the Pelicans on the Christmas stage, but they were the final game of the night against the Denver Nuggets. While the Pelicans won 112-100, they remained in Denver after the game. The Pelicans, like many road teams, opted not to fly until the next day to get some rest rather than arrive home at 3 in the morning.
While the team did fly family members to Denver and had a Christmas party at the hotel the night before the game, Hart said all he and some Pelicans players wanted for Christmas was a private jet to fly them back home to New Orleans after the game.
"The 8:30 [p.m.] game in Denver, it was the worst game," said Hart, who is 4-2 on Christmas. "We were thinking, how could we get back? We were going to 'PJ' after the game to get back home. But the team stayed the night. So yeah, it was by far the worst game of the season."
IT HAS BEEN four years since Donovan Mitchell last played on Christmas Day.
He scored 33 points and outdueled Jalen Brunson, who had 27 points, in the Utah Jazz's 120-116 Christmas win over the Mavericks in 2021.
This Christmas, they will go at it again when Mitchell's Cleveland Cavaliers visit Brunson's New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
"Man, I love playing on Christmas," Mitchell told ESPN, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. "It means you are doing something right as a team, right?
"I remember being at my grandmother's, getting up at 12 and being up until 12, watching basketball all day. So to be a part of that is truly special."
Mitchell's routine during his first two Christmas Day games with the Jazz was to keep everything as normal as possible. He prepared like it was a typical game day, and that meant celebrating Christmas either the day before or the day after, which he said is his mother's birthday.
But with the Cavs-Knicks game tipping off as the first game of the day, Mitchell will get to celebrate and open gifts with his family afterward at his New York area home.
Mitchell, who grew up in the New York and Connecticut area, will be living out a Christmas dream playing at the Garden.
"Just something that I never take for granted," Mitchell said. "Because not everybody can say they played on Christmas Day, let alone playing Madison Square Garden like we are.
"It's going to be special."
ESPN's Jamal Collier and Dave McMenamin contributed to this story.