Report: Wolves land Christmas Day showdown with Nuggets

For the second season in a row, Minnesota looks set to play on one of the league's premier days. Charania reported Friday the 2025 NBA Christmas Day lineup, featuring Minnesota travelling to Denver to take on the Nuggets.

Minnesota and Denver have a growing rivalry following several postseason meetings over the past three seasons. During the 2023 postseason, No. 1 seed Denver knocked off No. 8 seed Minnesota four game to one in the first round. The following playoffs, Minnesota upset the Nuggets in seven games in the Western Conference semifinals.

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Over the last decade, Minnesota has featured on Christmas Day just three times. Appearing for the first time in 2016, Minnesota lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-100. The following season, Minnesota beat the Lakers 121-104. After a seven year hiatus, the Wolves returned to Christmas Day in 2024, scoring a 105-99 win over the Mavericks.

The Timberwolves have yet to host a Christmas Day game.

Intriguingly, if Shams' tweet is in order — like it was last season — Minnesota and Denver will wrap up the day's festivities. The Wolves/Nuggets game was the final game listed in Charania's tweet announcing the games, meaning the game would presumably tip-off at 9:30 p.m. CT. Based on last season, we can speculate that the 2025 Christmas Day schedule will look like this:

11 a.m. - Cleveland Cavaliers @ New York Knicks
1:30 p.m. - San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder
4 p.m. - Houston Rockets @ Los Angeles Lakers
7 p.m. - Dallas Mavericks @ Golden State Warriors
9:30 p.m. - Minnesota Timberwolves @ Denver Nuggets

The Wolves will report to training camp in mid-September and open preseason play against the Denver Nuggets in San Diego in early October.

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