The Los Angeles Lakers will continue the annual NBA tradition of playing on Christmas Day. For the the 2025 holiday, LeBron James and the Lakers are set to host Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and the Houston Rockets inside Crypto dot com Arena.

Christmas Day 2025 will mark the 20th Christmas Day game for LeBron James, increasing his NBA record set last season when he played his 19th game on December 25th against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

After the Lakers loss to the Clippers on Saturday night, James was asked about playing on Christmas Day for an NBA-record 20th time.

“Why is Christmas basketball still so important to you all these years?” James was asked.

“Still important to me?” James retorted.

“Why does it matter?” the reporter then asked.

“Yeah, okay, that’s a better question,” James responded with a laugh.

“I’d much rather be at home with my family. But I mean, it’s the game, it’s the game that I love. It’s a game I watched when I was a kid on Christmas Day, watching a lot of the greatest play the game on Christmas. It’s always been an honor to play it.

“Obviously, I’m gonna be completely honest, I would like to be home on the couch with my family all throughout the day. But our number is called, so we have to go out and perform and I look forward to it.”

LeBron James on playing his NBA-record 20th Christmas Day game this week:

“I’d much rather be at home with my family. But I mean, it’s the game, it’s the game that I love. It’s a game I watched when I was a kid on Christmas Day, watching a lot of the greatest play the game on… pic.twitter.com/lo85glVwPk

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 22, 2025

LeBron James leads the NBA in all-time Christmas Day scoring with 507 career points on December 25th, 112 points ahead of second-place Kobe Bryant, who played 16 Christmas Day games in his NBA career.

James also ranks fifth in total rebounds, second all time in total assists, second in total steals, and seventh in total blocks on Christmas Day.

The NBA’s Christmas Day slate begins with the Cleveland Cavaliers visiting the New York Knicks, followed by the Oklahoma City thunder, hosting the San Antonio Spurs.

The Dallas Mavericks visit the Golden State Warriors in the third game of the slate, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Houston Rockets. The night concludes with the Denver Nuggets hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Since returning from his bout with sciatica, LeBron James has averaged 20.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 7.1 assists in 11 games while shooting 48 percent from the field and 28.3 percent from three.