Christmas Day viewing is big business for the NBA, and this season, the Utah Jazz will once again get the gift of a national television audience.
The NBA announced its Christmas slate of matchups on Tuesday afternoon, and the Jazz will host Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks at Vivint Arena in the nightcap game. Tipoff is slated for 8:30 p.m MT, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Also among the league’s five Christmas matchups are Hawks at Knicks (10 a.m.MT, ESPN), Celtics at Bucks (12:30 p.m. MT, ABC), Warriors at Suns (3 p.m. MT, ABC), and Nets at Lakers (6 p.m. MT, ABC/ESPN).
Utah last hosted a Christmas Day game in 2018, when the Portland Trail Blazers came to town.
The league’s 1 p.m. MT schedule announcement also revealed its opening week television schedule for games to be broadcast on TNT and ESPN.
In spite of having the NBA’s best regular-season record a year ago, the Jazz were not booked for any of the eight nationally-televised games over the first four days of the regular season.
The games will get underway with the Nets visiting the reigning champion Bucks on Oct. 19 at 5:30 p.m. MT. The Warriors will visit the Lakers as part of the opening night doubleheader.
And so it is that, for now, the only other known Jazz games all come in their previously announced four-game preseason schedule, which includes an Oct. 4 game at San Antonio, an Oct. 6 matchup at Dallas, and home games at Vivint Arena on Oct. 11 vs. New Orleans and Oct. 13 against Milwaukee, respectively.
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