Dallas Basketball

Luka vs. LeBron: Mavs to Face Lakers in Dallas on Christmas Day

It's the first Christmas Day game at home for the Mavs since the 2011-12 season.

Dalton Trigg

The last time the Dallas Mavericks hosted a Christmas Day game, championship rings were being handed out and a banner was being raised into the American Airlines Center rafters ... and Jason Kidd was still playing for Dallas, not coaching.

Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs beat the LeBron James-led Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals, and the league scheduled a rematch on Christmas after a two-month lockout due to CBA negotiations. Miami ended up winning 105-94 in a contest that wasn't nearly as close as the final score might indicate.

Eleven years later, Dallas will finally have another Christmas Day game at home, and yes, it features James yet again. This one will be a star-studded battle fans won't want to miss.

According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, Luka Doncic and the Mavs are set to take on James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 25.

"The first draft of next season's NBA schedule has Lakers at Dallas/LeBron at Luka on Christmas Day, league sources tell me," Stein tweeted. "Changes are still possible before the full schedule officially drops next week but Christmas games usually hold."

James' teams used to have the Mavs' number ever since the 2011 title, but in the last two seasons, the Mavs have a 4-2 record against the Lakers. Last year, two of the three matchups between the Mavs and Lakers were decided by five points or less.

James got the best of Doncic on Dec. 15 in Dallas, as the Lakers won in overtime, 107-104. However, Doncic got his revenge in Los Angeles on March 1, as he hunted James down the stretch en route to a thrilling 109-104 victory. That game also featured one of the most iconic moments of the Mavs' season, as Doncic went soaring for a put-back dunk over Dwight Howard.

For Mavericks and Lakers fans, Christmas has come early this year with this news.

You can follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter at @dalton_trigg

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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