LeBron James would rather relax at home than play in a stadium on Christmas Day.
The Los Angeles Lakers small forward will be playing against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday (Dec. 25), making it roughly his 20th time playing on Christmas. As he gears up for the Western Conference showdown, LeBron caught up with reporters following the Lakers v. Clippers game on Saturday (Dec. 20) and shared his feelings on the tradition.
Around the three-minute mark of the video below, LeBron was puzzled at a question about playing on Christmas being "important" to him before the reporter rephrased it.
"I'd much rather be at home with my family," the four-time NBA Championship holder said.
"But I mean, it's the game. It's the game I love. It's a game I watched when I was a kid on Christmas Day," he continued. “Watching a lot of the greatest play the game on Christmas. It's always been an honor to play it. Obviously, I'm going to be completely honest. I would like to be home on the couch with my family all throughout the day. But my number is called, our number is called, so we have to go out and perform and we look forward to that."
Last year, LeBron had a vastly different opinion, joking that the 'Beyoncé Bowl' during the 2024 NFL Halftime Show ruined it for the NBA on Christmas. That year, the Lakers were set to play against the Golden State Warriors and won 115-113. During the NFL game,
"I saw the fucking numbers after the fact," LeBron said on a past episode of podcast New Heights. "You guys kicked our ass. Alright? Okay? From a viewership standpoint, y'all kicked our ass."
With LeBron clearly exhausted with gearing up during the holidays, we could soon have the misfortune of hearing his retirement decision.