Ever since Giannis Antetokounmpo became a perennial MVP candidate — and, in turn, the Milwaukee Bucks became a contender in the East — they have been heavily featured on national TV and on the league’s marquee game days. There is no day on the NBA calendar bigger than Christmas, although they now have competition with the NFL, and Giannis and the Bucks have been a fixture of the NBA’s Christmas slate, playing on Christmas in each of the last six seasons.
That streak will come to an end this year, though, as Shams Charania reported the 2024 Christmas day slate will not include the Bucks after they got bounced in the first round of the playoffs this past season.
Spurs at Knicks
Timberwolves at Mavericks
76ers at Celtics
Lakers at Warriors
Nuggets at Suns
After that schedule got reported, Giannis found out on Friday and made his reaction public on Twitter, seemingly stunned that he and the Bucks will have the day off.
I can’t quite tell if this is Giannis being mad at being left off the league’s biggest slate of games or if he’s excited to finally get to spend Christmas day with his family, but either way it did come as a fairly big surprise. The East typically only gets two games on Christmas, but this year there are only three teams from the East involved, as they’ve opted to cash in on Wemby-mania by sending the Spurs to the Garden. That figures to have been the spot the Bucks would’ve found themselves in, but now will be watching at home with their families. That’s a nice combination of a holiday off and some added motivation for Giannis, Damian Lillard, and the rest of the Bucks, who find themselves as the forgotten contender after a big summer of moves around the league.
