LeBron James is Sick of Spending Christmas the Same Way Every Year

Stephen Douglas | 2 Hours Ago

Rob Pelinka, LeBron James and JaVale McGee at an ugly Christmas sweater party in 2019. / Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images

LeBron James and the Lakers will host the Rockets on Christmas. The game, which will air on ABC and ESPN, will be James's 20th Christmas Day game and the 19th consecutive year his team has played on the holiday.

That's right. LeBron James has been in your living room every single Christmas since 2007. The last time he was held to single-digits before this season the iPhone did not exist and when this Christmas streak started people were hoping to find the first-generation iPod Touch under the tree.

Back in 2007 the NBA only played a triple-header on Christmas. LeBron and the Cavaliers played Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal and the Heat at 2:30 p.m. ET, followed by Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum combining for 66 points against Steve Nash's Suns. The nightcap featured Brandon Roy's Trail Blazers beating Kevin Durant's... Seattle SuperSonics.

Of course, maybe you skipped one of those games to go catch a showing of National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Sweeney Todd or Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

One person who obviously couldn't do that was LeBron James because he had to work. And he would have much rather been home on the couch as he's been now talking about for a decade. In 2015, while the Cavaliers prepared to take on the Warriors on Christmas, James complained that he had no traditions because he was always on the road for the holiday. At the time he was about to play his sixth Christmas game on the road in the last seven seasons.

Now the complaining is becoming its own mini-tradition. Here he is on Sunday saying he'd rather be home with his family:

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

In the end, this is just another thing that LeBron James will be known for. No one will ever play more Christmas basketball than him. He and the NBA are just a part of the holiday. Once he retires, fans will miss him and a part of him will certainly miss having somewhere to go on Christmas to be cheered by thousands of people.

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