The latest rumors about the Lakers schedule for the 2016-17 NBA season includes another Christmas Day matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers
Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers play in a massive market and, as a historic franchise in the NBA, have a large national fan-base, there were legitimate questions coming into the Lakers schedule release for the 2016-17 NBA season that it would be the first time in recent memory that the Lakers weren’t playing on Christmas Day.
As it turns out, there’s rumored to be no reason to worry about that at all. According to a report from Matt Moore of CBS Sports, the Lakers schedule will once again include facing the Los Angeles Clippers on Christmas Day. This comes after the two Los Angeles based teams squared off on Christmas Day 2015, a game that saw the Clippers win—but not before a Lakers fourth-quarter comeback attempt.
The Lakers taking on the Clippers on Christmas Day joins an interesting slate of reported Christmas Day games. Also on the docket will be the Boston Celtics taking on the New York Knicks, an NBA Finals rematch between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, the Minnesota Timberwolves facing the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Pau Gasol and the San Antonio Spurs facing his former team in the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers will then close out the holiday festivities.
Obviously it’s unfortunate that the Lakers are going to be playing against a Clippers team still considered one of the top-four teams (if not higher) in the Western Conference while the Lakers are still clearly trying to get their ducks in a row with the young core. Even still, it’s still refreshing that the Lakers schedule includes a spotlight matchup on Christmas Day.
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The rest of the Lakers schedule will officially be released on Thursday at around 2:45 p.m. PT. We’ll definitely keep you updated as to what the best games, most important games, and so much more are throughout the day.