Dec. 25, 2025, 4:28 p.m. ET
The Brooklyn Nets are not playing on Christmas Day for the fourth straight season as the NBA is looking for teams that are competing for championships to be showcased for their audience. The last time that Brooklyn played on Christmas Day, James Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kevin Durant were in town, but the landscape of the league has changed since then.
Christmas Day is one of the most popular days of the NBA season as he somewhat serves as the transition for the average sports consumer from the NFL season to the NBA. Granted, the NFL regular season is close to being over before the playoffs begin, but Christmas day gives NBA fans the chance to see what teams around the NBA look like on a national stage.
For example, teams like the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers are usually playing on Christmas due to the popularity of those teams, but NBA fans will also get to see teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama on television as well. With that being said, here are the five best Christmas Day performances by a Nets player in franchise history:
Kyrie Irving
In a matchup at the Boston Celtics on Dec. 25, 2020, Irving not only scored the most points in a Christmas Day game by a Nets player with 37 points, but he was part of the biggest win on the holiday as well. Brooklyn beat Boston 123-95 and Irving also dropped six rebounds and eight assists while shooting 61.9% from the field and 7-of-10 from three-point land.
James Harden
Harden dropped a triple-double in a Christmas Day matchup at the Los Angeles Lakers in which he had 36 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists while chipping in three blocks for good measure. Brooklyn won the game 122-115 behind the performances of Harden and Patty Mills (who will be discussed later in this piece) in their most recent game on Christmas Day.
Patty Mills
In the same game in which his teammate James Harden went off for a 36-point triple-double, Mills more than carried his share of the workload as he went off for 34 points and seven assists. In the wake of Irving and Durant not being available for this matchup, Mills stepped up to the tune of shooting 61.5% from the field and 61.5 from behind the three-point line.
Micheal Ray Richardson
Richardson put up 36 points, five rebounds, four assists, and four steals in a 120-114 win over the New York Knicks on Dec. 25, 1984 in which he also played every minute of the game as well. Richardson, who passed away earlier this year, is one of the best players in Nets history and while he had a complicated career due to drug issues, makes the list with this effort against the Knicks.
Buck Williams
In a 112-110 overtime win over the New York Knicks on Dec. 25, 1982, Williams went off for 30 points and 12 rebounds while playing 44 minutes. While received some help from Albert King and Darryl Dawkins, Williams stood out amongst his teammates with the way that he played on one of the most important days on the NBA calendar, even back in the 1980s.