Charles Barkley is irate over the NFL trying to steal Christmas from the NBA.
Christmas Day has traditionally been a major spotlight for the NBA, which puts on five games every Dec. 25, beginning at noon; this year, the Knicks tipped things off at the Garden against the Cavaliers.
The NFL traditionally only played on Christmas when it lined up with the league’s normal schedule. But since 2020, the league has held at least one game each Christmas. And despite Christmas being on a Wednesday last year, the NFL shoehorned a doubleheader on Netflix, which is paying $150 million per year to get a pair of Christmas games as part of a three-year deal.
“The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games. We used to have this day to ourself, but Roger Goodell and them pigs at the NFL always want to hog every day of the week now,” Barkley said during “NBA Tipoff” on ESPN on Thursday. “Christmas is an NBA day.”
This year marks the 78th year the NBA is holding games on Christmas, a day that usually features some of the league’s top teams and biggest stars.
The rest of this year’s NBA Christmas slate features the reigning champion Thunder hosting Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs; Steph Curry’s Warriors hosting the Mavericks, who have No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg; LeBron James’ Lakers hosting Kevin Durant’s Rockets and Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets hosting the Timberwolves.
The NFL’s Christmas schedule this year has been undermined by injuries.
The eliminated Cowboys play the Commanders, who are missing starting quarterback Jayden Daniels and are playing third-stringer Josh Johnson. The Vikings are starting undrafted rookie Max Brosmer at QB against the Lions, and the eliminated Chiefs face the Broncos with a third-stringer, Chris Oladokun, under center after a season-ending injury to Patrick Mahomes.
The third game, Chiefs-Broncos, is airing on Amazon’s Prime Video as part of its usual “Thursday Night Football” coverage.
