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    NBA Christmas Day odds, schedule: Luka Doncic vs. LeBron James and Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving vs. Celtics highlight schedule

    The NBA has released the schedule for its five-game Christmas slate.
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    The NBA wanted to start the 72-game shortened 2021-22 regular season Dec. 22 so the league could give its broadcast partners the very lucrative Christmas Day package. It's easily the most profitable regular-season day of every season for the league and often draws the most betting action of any non-playoff day at sportsbooks like William Hill. The league has announced its five-game Christmas slate for this year, and it's headlined by LeBron James and the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.

    LeBron plays on Christmas every year because he's the biggest star in the league, and while James may take several games off this season to rest up after that long championship run in the bubble, he'll surely suit up for Christmas because it's so important to the NBA. The Lakers have had a very productive offseason in adding the likes of Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell and Marc Gasol and are +300 favorites at William Hill to repeat as NBA champions.

    Dallas is a rising power in the West behind Doncic, who is the +450 favorite at William Hill to win the NBA MVP Award – just ahead of two-time winner Giannis Antetokounmpo (+500) of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Mavs will open the season without their second-best player in Kristaps Porzingis. He's recovering from knee surgery and won't play until at least January. Mavs-Lakers is in the primetime window at 8 p.m. ET.

    Usually the marquee matchup on Christmas is in the 5 p.m. ET window, and that features the Brooklyn Nets at Boston Celtics. Brooklyn is expected to contend for an NBA title this season with a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who did not leave Boston on good terms following the 2018-19 season and never faced the Celtics in his injury-prone 2019-20 campaign. Will James Harden be a member of the Nets by Christmas? Probably not.

    The first game of Christmas at noon ET is Zion Williamson (making his Christmas debut) and the rising New Orleans Pelicans at the defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat. At 2:30 p.m. ET, it's Steph Curry, rookie No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman (but not Klay Thompson) and the Golden State Warriors visiting Giannis, Jrue Holiday and the Bucks.

    The 10:30 p.m. ET game features the Los Angeles Clippers at Denver Nuggets. Of course, the Clippers gagged away a 3-1 Western Conference playoff series lead to the Nuggets in the bubble and lost in seven. That led to the firing of Clippers coach Doc Rivers, replaced by Ty Lue.

    Note that there is one NFL game on Christmas this year: Vikings at Saints with a 4:30 p.m. ET kickoff. In theory, that could be meaningless if Minnesota is eliminated from playoff contention and New Orleans is locked into the NFC's top seed. It could also be hugely important. Perhaps the NBA put Mavs-Lakers at 8 p.m. ET to avoid going head-to-head with Vikings-Saints.

    The NBA regular season will tip off Dec. 22 as noted, but that schedule hasn't been released yet. It should be anytime now, and it's likely the Lakers will open at home that night to raise their championship banner. That's tradition. The league's preseason schedule is out and will tip off Dec. 11 and run through Dec. 19.

    Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Early Christmas Day NBA odds (subject to change)

    • 12 p.m. ET: Pelicans at Heat (-5)
    • 2:30 p.m. ET: Warriors at Bucks (-7)
    • 5 p.m. ET: Nets at Celtics (+1.5)
    • 8 p.m. ET: Mavericks at Lakers (-6.5)
    • 10:30 p.m. ET: Clippers at Nuggets (+1)

    Who wins every NFL game this week? And which teams cover more than 50 percent of the time? Get picks here from the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times and ranked in the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch three of the past four years on straight-up NFL picks.

    SportsLine Staff

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