San Antonio plays at New York on Christmas at 11 a.m. CT on ABC and ESPN, the first meeting since the Knicks closed out the NBA Finals in June.
The San Antonio Spurs will play the New York Knicks on Christmas, the NBA announced Tuesday. The game tips off at 11 a.m. CT on ABC and ESPN at Madison Square Garden and opens a five-game holiday slate, with Miami at Boston at 1:30 p.m., Philadelphia at Los Angeles at 4 p.m., Oklahoma City at Minnesota at 7 p.m., and Denver at Golden State at 9:30 p.m.
It will be the first meeting since New York closed out the NBA Finals in San Antonio on June 13. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in the 94-90 Game 5 win and was named Finals MVP. Victor Wembanyama had 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Dylan Harper led the Spurs with 25.
New York won the series 4-1 for its first championship since 1973. San Antonio's win came in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, 115-111. Two nights later, the Spurs led Game 4 by 29 and lost 107-106 on an OG Anunoby tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, the largest comeback in Finals history. The Spurs won the first quarter in all five games by a combined 57 points.
That was not the first December 25 meeting between the two. On Christmas in 2024, the Knicks won 117-114, a game in which Wembanyama put up 42 points, 18 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks.
Last Christmas, the Spurs were in Oklahoma City, where they won 117-102. De'Aaron Fox scored 29, and Wembanyama had 19 points and 11 rebounds. The Knicks spent that afternoon beating Cleveland 126-124 behind 34 points from Brunson.
This will be the Knicks' 59th Christmas game and their 51st at home on December 25. New York has been on the holiday schedule since the league's first Christmas games in 1947.
The two franchises have met 117 times, and San Antonio holds a 65-52 edge. In the regular season, the Spurs are 60-47. The playoff meetings amount to two series and 10 games, split five apiece.
The first came in 1999, when San Antonio beat New York in five games for the first championship in franchise history, and Tim Duncan was named Finals MVP. New York had gone 27-23 in the lockout-shortened regular season and became the first eighth seed to reach the Finals.
San Antonio went 2-5 against New York last season across the regular season and the Finals. The two split their two regular-season games. New York also beat the Spurs 124-113 in the NBA Cup championship game in December, which does not count toward either team's record.
The Spurs return their starting five from a 62-20 season, with Mitch Johnson returning for a second full season without an interim label.
Three San Antonio dates are now known. The other 79 games come out Thursday, when the league releases the full 2026-27 schedule at 2 p.m. CT.
