The Los Angeles Lakers are being featured on both Opening Night and Christmas Day. The NBA clearly knows who their moneymaker is.
Shams Charania gave basketball fans waiting to hear details about the new NBA season exactly what they were dying to know. The first leaks about the new schedule are officially here.
The Lakers will be one of the two matchups on Opening Night. The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder are set to start the 2025-26 NBA season. Los Angeles will host the Golden State Warriors as a follow-up to the first regular-season matchup of the new campaign.
Christmas Day will feature a battle of the old heads for the Lakers. LeBron James and Kevin Durant will go head-to-head for yet another matchup in both of their legendary careers, assuming the two are healthy and available in December.
Lakers' position among the NBA's favorites is painfully obvious
There was never really much doubt that the Lakers would figure heavily into the league's plans during the upcoming season. They are one of the biggest markets in the NBA and will have plenty of fascinating storylines to keep fans invested in 2025-26.
The spot on Opening Night will allow fans the shortest possible wait to see what a revamped Luka Doncic can do following the offseason coverage of his body transformation. There are only so many conclusions that can be drawn from one game, but the spotlight will surely be on him.
Houston is not the team one would have instinctively predicted for Christmas. The Dallas Mavericks felt like the more natural matchup to anticipate for the Lakers.
However, it is understandable why the NBA chose to go in another direction. Durant versus James will only be available for a big stage like Christmas for an incredibly limited amount of time at this point. Many fans will still naturally gravitate to those two iconic names.
Doncic will still get his opportunity for revenge in another manner. The Lakers will see the Mavericks in the NBA Cup during the upcoming season.
Lakers fans would have been stunned if the biggest moments of the 2025-26 regular season did not feature their team. It is that exact reason that the NBA would never even dream of such an scenario.