NBA Promises a Ballin' Christmas With LeBron James and James Harden in New Holiday Spot

The league is closing out 2019 with a cheer-filled ad

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While the National Football League has long been synonymous with Thanksgiving, over the past decade the National Basketball Association has quietly laid claim to another holiday: Christmas.

After the gifts have been opened on Dec. 25, the NBA is hosting a full slate of games across the country from noon to midnight, and is putting its holiday connection at the forefront of its advertising this month with a new holiday spot.

In the ad, which will run for the first time on ESPN during tonight’s game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Toronto Raptors, the league’s top players dribble, pass and dunk snowballs on a court lined with signs of the season, including stockings, nutcrackers and twinkling Christmas lights.

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