Ranking the 2022 NBA Christmas games by intrigue

NBA Christmas Game 4. Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks, 2:30 PM ET

Two of the game’s marquee stars are in this contest. The early afternoon game may not be intriguing if the Los Angeles Lakers don’t have a better year, though.

Obviously, LeBron James is the big draw here. He’s arguably the biggest star in the history of the sport and there’s a reason he’s going to set the NBA Christmas games record this season.

His colleagues let him down last season, though, and outside of the coaching change, there were not many alterations made during the offseason. Anthony Davis is still around, but so is Russell Westbrook. The entertainment factor if Westbrook is still struggling next season could shoot this game up the rankings.

James probably won’t be the best player on the court that day, though. That distinction should belong to Luka Doncic, one of the best young stars in the league. His frenetic style of play is worth enough intrigue on its own.

His team, however, may not be much improved from last year’s surprising Western Conference Finals run. Spencer Dinwiddie is a downgrade from Jalen Brunson, but Christian Wood is an upgrade from any center Doncic has played with in his career.

If there was a hypothetical power ranking for this time of the year, the Mavs are probably towards the bottom of the top third and the Lakers are somewhere in the middle of the pack. On the aggregate, that would make this the fourth-best game of the day.