Memphis Grizzlies reportedly land coveted Christmas Day game

For the first time in franchise history, the Memphis Grizzlies are reportedly scheduled to play on Christmas Day.

The report, first shared by NBA insider Marc Stein on Twitter via his Substack newsletter, has not been confirmed by the NBA or the Grizzlies. However, Stein said the announcement should be made as soon as next week.

For the past week or so, we’ve been speculating who the Grizzlies might play if they were awarded a Christmas Day game.

But, now that it’s on the schedule, we know who the league plans to pit against the Grizzlies.

Who are the Memphis Grizzlies playing on Christmas Day?

According to Stein, the Memphis Grizzlies are traveling to San Francisco to take on the 2021-22 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center on December 25, 2022.

The Grizzlies are entering their 28th season as a franchise and have never played a game on Christmas Day. That’s been a day in which the league has opted to showcase its best teams and best talents on a national stage.

There’s typically not much competition for live content on Christmas Day and the league has been capitalizing on that fact for decades now.

It was probably an easy decision to put the Grizzlies on the day’s slate of games. Memphis finished with the second-best record in the NBA last season, led by one of the most exciting players in the league in Ja Morant. The team has an exciting young roster and they play an entertaining style of play, which obviously makes for good television.

We do not yet know the time slot for the game, but it will likely be one of the following time slots: 11 AM CT, 1:30 PM CT, 4 PM CT, 7 PM CT or 9:30 PM CT. Those were the slots the league used for last year’s Christmas Day games.

With the game being played at Golden State, we can probably eliminate the two earliest time slots. Those will likely go to games being played on the east coast or central time zone.

The 4 PM game will probably go to another eastern time zone or central time zone game. The 7 and 9:30 PM games will likely go to a game being played in the mountain time zone or the pacific time zone.

The Memphis Grizzlies will probably get the prime-time slot: 7 PM CT. This is a rivalry that’s been ongoing even through this offseason. Everyone has been clamoring for it and the league is seemingly delivering on what the fans want.

It’s the best possible matchup in a day and it should get the prime-time slot.