Two Christmases ago, LeBron James and Stephen Curry delivered a 115-113 matchup that averaged 7.76 million viewers. It was the most-watched NBA regular-season game in five years, with the five-game Christmas Day slate averaging 5.25 million viewers, up 84% from the previous year. The NBA is banking on Dec. 25, 2026, to do something similar. However, an analyst has warned that this particular game between the LA Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers may not live up to its billing.

Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation gave his take on what challenges the 2026 NBA Christmas Day game between the 76ers and Lakers could face.

“I don’t think either one of these teams will be at their very best by Christmas,” Lane said on his podcast. “It takes longer than that to really develop full chemistry.”

A potential 76ers starting lineup of LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe has never played a regular-season minute together. And while Lane believes the pieces can fit, he doesn’t think it will be easy.

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Meanwhile, Los Angeles features a roster with considerable new faces surrounding Luka Doncic. Walker Kessler came from Utah, while Collin Sexton joined after spending last season with Chicago and Charlotte, and Quentin Grimes joined from Philadelphia.

“That’s not to say their pieces can’t fit together well. I think they absolutely can, but I do expect there to be some bumps in the road in the early going as these guys all learn how to play together. By Christmas, though, that may be worked out.”

For the Lakers, Lane also brought up the injury problems.

“Hopefully the injury bug will leave the Lakers alone for the first time, like, ever. It feels like it’s been years and years where they have gotten hammered by the injury bug one season after another.”

Even for the 76ers, two (Embiid and James) of the sport’s most injury-prone stars will be sharing one lineup.

LeBron’s return to Crypto.com Arena on Christmas Day will be his 21st Christmas Day game overall. He might face Luka Doncic and his son Bronny in the building he called home for eight seasons, on the league’s most-watched regular-season day of the year.

The NBA’s Christmas Day ratings have been trending upward after several years of decline. Even last year, ESPN pulled in its biggest average NBA Christmas audience since 2018. The five-game Thursday slate on December 25 drew 5.5 million viewers on average, a 4% jump from 2024, and reached 47.2 million fans total, up 45% from the year before.

That’s ESPN’s widest reach for Christmas NBA games since 2010, if you don’t count the season-opener-turned-Christmas-Day game in 2011. And that proved the holiday format still works when the matchups carry genuine star power.

The Lakers-76ers game has that in abundance. LeBron, Doncic, Brown, Maxey, Embiid, and Bronny on the same court, with James’ eight seasons as a purple and gold and one of the most talked-about free agency decisions in recent memory in the background.

The NBA also faces a Christmas Day triple-header from the NFL this season. Meaning the league needs every big matchup it has to compete for viewers throughout the day.