LeBron James And The Lakers Will Reportedly Take On The Warriors On Christmas Day (UPDATE)

The NBA is scheduled to announce its full slate of Christmas Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and nationally televised opening week games on Wednesday afternoon. However, Marc Stein of the New York Times reported on Tuesday evening that, to the surprise of no one, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will face off against the reigning champion Golden State Warriors on the NBA’s biggest regular season stage.

As noted above, the match-up between the Lakers and Warriors is reportedly set for Oakland and it is safe to assume that the game will placed in a premium television spot in the afternoon/evening. In addition, there is a headline-grabbing match-up between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers that could be an Eastern Conference Finals preview and, of course, the New York Knicks (even with a rather dismal projection for the 2018-19 season) attract prime placement given their massive market reach.

It is important to note that the rest of the schedule (one that will feature more than just the three games listed here) will be on the way in the very near future but, for now, NBA fans can take solace in a couple of highly intriguing match-ups, even if they happen to be ones many expected to see.

UPDATE: Chris Haynes of ESPN added some information on one of the remaining two Christmas Day games, revealing that the Utah Jazz will play host to the Portland Trail Blazers.

UPDATE: Thanks to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, we know how the Christmas Day slate is expected to shake out: Carmelo Anthony and his new team will visit the team he played for last season.