Last Christmas, the NBA handed the Nuggets a lump of coal.
As soon as the schedule came out, team officials took notice when the Nuggets, despite featuring reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, weren’t awarded a Christmas Day game. It was the first time a reigning MVP hadn’t played on , when the NBA expanded to five games on the day.
Pegged to host the Suns on Christmas evening, the Nuggets can claim no such disrespect this time around.
“You probably gotta thank Nikola for that,” said Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., when asked about being featured alongside the 76ers, Knicks, Lakers, Mavericks, Celtics, Bucks, Grizzlies and Warriors.
“I love a TV game,” Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray said but added he’d be happy spending time with his family on the holiday, too.
Not only was the decision prudent — the Nuggets entered Sunday night’s showdown first in the West at 20-11 and riding a three-game win streak — but the league couldn’t snub Jokic, on the heels of another MVP campaign, again. Not to mention, itap the first time Denver will face the Suns at (nearly) full strength since they were swept out of the playoffs during the 2020-21 playoffs. Then, Murray was only two months into his ACL rehab, and Porter has since said he wasn’t healthy during the series.
Both are healthy and on the mend. Perhaps Sunday’s game will foreshadow another postseason showdown in a few months.
But, in a moment of candor last week, Nuggets coach Michael Malone admitted last season’s snub wasn’t horrible.
“I look at it in a few different ways,” he said. “We weren’t selected to play last year on Christmas and we took it as a Rodney Dangerfield insult. We had the current MVP, and we’re not on Christmas? But I’ll be honest, I kind of like being off on Christmas. Itap one of those Catch-22s. … I like to be sipping on eggnog (and) hanging out with my family. Thatap not how it works.”
Some of Malone’s fondest memories came while he was younger, on Christmas Day, at Madison Square Garden. While his dad, Brendan, was an assistant coach for New York, Michael recalled heading to the Garden to watch prime Michael Jordan face off against the Knicks. Malone said he knows itap what every kid dreamed about and never took it for granted.
And why, ultimately, he wasn’t upset to be chosen this season.
“I do consider it a privilege,” he said. “I think they are putting the best teams, the marquee teams on TV on Christmas Day, and I’m thankful that we’re one of those teams.”
