The misfortune of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs could be a boon to the NBA’s Christmas Day hopes.
Late in Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Mahomes went down with what appeared to be a significant knee injury. Backup quarterback Gardner Minshew replaced the Chiefs star, and with the team’s season on the line, threw an interception that officially knocked the Chiefs out of the postseason for the first time in ten years. It was an anticlimactic end to a dominant run from Kansas City.
With their season on the line, Patrick Mahomes goes down with an apparent knee injury. Walks off with assistance.
Gardner Minshew is in as the Chiefs look to tie the game late. pic.twitter.com/xn5ta8XLoc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 14, 2025
Other than the Chiefs, the biggest loser with Patrick Mahomes going down is Prime Video. The streamer is scheduled to air an exclusive game between the Chiefs and Denver Broncos on Christmas night. Prior to the season, that game was set to have massive AFC West implications on paper. Even with the Chiefs’ struggles, the team was still likely to be fighting for a playoff spot come Christmas.
Now, with the team out of postseason contention and likely without its star quarterback for the rest of the year, that game goes from a must-watch to a much less appealing matchup.
Unfortunate timing on this Thursday Night Football promo advertising “Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs” on Christmas night immediately following his apparent knee injury.
The Chiefs have officially been eliminated from playoff contention. pic.twitter.com/PTcvScEL5y
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 14, 2025
Prime Video’s loss might be ESPN and the NBA’s gain come Christmas night. ESPN and ABC are scheduled to air a Houston Rockets-Los Angeles Lakers game at 8 p.m. ET on Christmas, with a Minnesota Timberwolves-Denver Nuggets game to follow at 10:30 p.m. Both of those games stand to draw larger audiences now that the NFL competition will be weaker.
To be sure, even a diminished Chiefs-Broncos game will likely still out-draw the NBA’s primetime games on Christmas. That game will still have huge implications for the Broncos as they fight to win the AFC West and possibly secure a first-round bye in the playoffs. But some portion of that audience, especially if the game gets out of hand, will turn to the NBA action now that there’s no Mahomes factor.
Of course, the NBA would never root for an athlete to get injured no matter what the sport. But the league will certainly take any advantage it can get as the fight for Christmas Day eyeballs becomes even more heated between the NFL and NBA.