Report: Indiana Pacers will not play on Christmas in 2024

The Pacers are the only Conference Finalist from last season to not be playing on Christmas

Mar 7, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) shoots the ball while Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson (1) defends during the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

According to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic, the 2024 Christmas slate of NBA games does not include the Indiana Pacers.

Charania, citing sources, shared that the ten teams participating in this year's Holiday battles are the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, and Phoenix Suns.

NBA Christmas Day games for the 2024-25 season, per sources:

🎄Spurs at Knicks
🎄Timberwolves at Mavericks
🎄76ers at Celtics
🎄Lakers at Warriors
🎄Nuggets at Suns

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 9, 2024

Of last year's final eight postseason teams remaining, only five are playing on Christmas. The Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Oklahoma City Thunder are the three omissions — they are replaced by the Spurs, Lakers, Suns, 76ers and Warriors.

To some extent, that makes sense. Those teams either have a superstar with massive TV popularity (LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Joel Embiid) or a player who has a chance to be the face of the league in Victor Wembanyama. Indiana is, however, the only Conference Finalist from last season to not be playing on Christmas.

The Pacers haven't played on the marquee scheduling day since 2004, when they fell 98-93 to the Detroit PIstons. Even when the blue and gold reached the Eastern Conference Finals in consecutive seasons back in 2013-14, they did not play on Christmas.

Perhaps another year of success and popularity could push the Pacers into contention for a Christmas game. Indiana just broke a playoff drought this past season, and while they have All-NBA talent on their roster, they are still an ascending bunch. A future Christmas game is more likely.

The Pacers went 47-35 last season, which landed them sixth in the East. As of now, only a few Pacers games during the 2024-25 season are known — two preseason games were revealed this week, and the Paris games next January against San Antonio have been announced.

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