Wembanyama Lifts NBA Christmas Slate Amid NFL Competition

The NBA was facing an uphill battle on Christmas against the NFL’s Netflix doubleheader, but Victor Wembanyama’s Christmas debut delivered a surprise gift.

The French star scored 42 points, third-most in a Christmas debut, during the opening contest of the NBA’s five-game slate between the Knicks and Spurs at Madison Square Garden. Wembanyama dueled with the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges, who dropped 41 points, as the two became the first opposing players to breach the 40-point barrier on Christmas since 1961. 

The Knicks eked out a win, 117–114, in an exciting battle which was also the featured game on the league’s first Mickey Mouse-themed altcast, which was called Dunk The Halls and aired on ESPN2. 

That game set the right tone for the NBA’s Christmas Day slate, which featured some of the league’s most popular stars like LeBron James and Anthony Edwards—but lost some luster with some teams underperforming to start the year. Only one of the top two seeds in either conference played on Christmas (the Celtics). 

Four of the ten participating teams were sitting in play-in spots entering the night, and two were out of the playoff picture entirely. The four teams that played in Vegas for the NBA Cup earlier this month (Bucks, Hawks, Rockets, Thunder) were not in action.

The Future Face

The NBA’s ratings decline—down 18% this year—has been a prevailing narrative hovering over this season. There have been several hypotheses for the dip, from the NBA’s three-point-happy play style to the decline in overall cable subscribers driven by the rise and diversification of streaming.

The league’s Christmas viewership numbers have not yet been released, and they may ultimately not paint a positive picture given the competition, but Wembanyama’s performance is a glimpse into the next potential face of the league as stars like James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry enter their final years.

NBA viewership has been trending down this century, but its peaks, particularly in the Finals, have always come from the presence of major superstar talents—from Michael Jordan in the 1990s, to Kobe Bryant in the 2010s, to James and Curry throughout the last decade. The 11.31 million viewership number for the 2024 Finals between the Mavericks and Celtics is down about 42% from the average viewership for the four years the Warriors and Cavs faced off from 2015 to 2018, which featured both James and Curry.

The King Speaks

LeBron James returned from a social media hiatus that lasted about a month (Nov. 20 to Dec 16)—and on Christmas morning, he had some thoughts about the NBA on Christmas. James, who played for an NBA record 18th time on Christmas, called for the league to bring back Christmas-themed jerseys.

“Not having Xmas day unis anymore really sucks! That was a great feeling walking into the locker room and seeing those,” James wrote on X.

The NBA last had Christmas jerseys in 2016, when the league’s uniform and apparel partner was Adidas. Ironically, Nike, with which James has a lifetime endorsement contract, took over as the NBA’s uniform partner in 2017. In October, the league signed a 12-year extension with Nike that runs until 2037.