The NBA announced the schedule for its annual slate of Christmas games Tuesday. The defending champions and the league’s biggest superstars are there, but a few elite teams and players might feel slighted to be left off one of the league’s biggest days.
Here are the five teams most snubbed by the NBA’s Dec. 25 schedule.
1. Cleveland Cavaliers
When NBA commissioner Adam Silver talked last month about LeBron James’ decision delaying the league’s schedule-making, this is exactly what he meant. Had James chosen his former Cleveland Cavaliers over the Philadelphia 76ers, they’d likely be the ones playing the midday game against the Los Angeles Lakers instead.
Even without James, the Cavaliers have a strong case. They have perennial All-Star Donovan Mitchell, former Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and went to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. Maybe it’s the delay in signing James Harden that’s keeping Cleveland off the holiday schedule.
2. Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons had the best record in the Eastern Conference last season and a first-team All-NBA guard in Cade Cunningham. Last season they won 60 games, 17 more than the Miami Heat and 15 for than the Sixers, who are both playing Dec. 25.
Maybe the NBA still doesn’t believe in the young Pistons, who had to escape an upset scare from the Orlando Magic to escape the first round. However, the Pistons will play on Opening Day in the season’s first game, when they take on the Boston Celtics in a game starting at 3 p.m. Eastern.
3. Houston Rockets
Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets aren’t getting any yuletide respect from the NBA, despite having a loaded team and a future Hall of Famer. Perhaps that’s because they’ve been upset in the first round of the playoffs two years in a row, and they only added backup guard Marcus Smart this offseason.
It doesn’t help matters that their biggest offseason addition was shooting coach Chip Engelland. Engelland should help Houston’s inconsistent offense, but he’s not exactly drawing viewers to their televisions.
4. Phoenix Suns
Do the seventh-place Phoenix Suns truly deserve to be showcased on Christmas Day, even if they do have superstar Devin Booker? Probably not, but that won’t keep Dillon Brooks from using the perceived disrespect from the NBA as motivation for the Suns all season long. Brooks may even become the first NBA player to draw a technical foul from Santa Claus.
5. Toronto Raptors
There are two big factors working against the Toronto Raptors. The first is that they’re in Canada, which creates issues for the NBA and its broadcast partners, at least in terms of pure ratings numbers. The second is that no one knows if they’ll actually complete their trade for Kawhi Leonard thanks to the NBA investigation.
Silver doesn’t want broadcasters talking about salary cap circumvention during the NBA’s big showcase, though the Raptors should make a case to get a premium Boxing Day matchup every year on Dec. 26 instead.