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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Jazz fans will get an extra present on Christmas evening this season.
The Jazz will host Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in the Christmas Day nightcap at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, the league announced Tuesday.
Christmas Day is one of the league's premier viewership windows, and the slate is reserved for the biggest stars and the best teams. The Christmas schedule also features Hawks at Knicks, Celtics at Bucks, Warriors at Suns, and Nets at Lakers.
Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Utah's league-best record last season was enough to get them on the slate.
It'll be the second time in four seasons the Jazz will host a Christmas Day game. In 2018, the Jazz defeated the Portland Trail Blazers to cap off the Christmas slate. Before that contest, though, you had to go all the way back to 1997 to find the last time the Jazz played on Christmas.
The franchise is 4-1 in Christmas games since moving to Utah — all of which have been at home.
The league also revealed the national television schedule for the opening week of the season which begins Tuesday, Oct. 19. The season will begin with a doubleheader featuring the Nets at Bucks followed by Warriors at Lakers. The Jazz will not be featured during the first week. The full schedule will be released Friday.
The Jazz have announced their four-game preseason schedule, which includes an Oct. 4 game at San Antonio, an Oct. 6 matchup at Dallas, and home games at Vivint Arena on Oct. 11 vs. New Orleans and Oct. 13 against Milwaukee.
