Have The Philadelphia 76ers Ever Played On Christmas Day?

With the NBA tradition of NBA games, lots of Philadelphia 76ers fans are wondering, “will the Sixers ever play on Christmas, or have they ever?”

One of the NBA’s greatest traditions is quickly becoming the Christmas day games. According to Wikipedia, it’s been a tradition since the NBA was founded, and only a lockout in the late 90s stopped the Christmas day games from happening. The NBA is the only major league sport that regularly schedules games on this day.

Although it’s been a tradition since the beginning of the NBA, it’s becoming seemingly huge in the past few seasons. Special jerseys have been created for the teams playing games on that day, and the league has pumped up the scheduling, making sure fans can sit down with their families anytime from noon to midnight and catch some NBA action.

The Philadelphia 76ers, who haven’t been good in the playoffs since 2001, haven’t played in the Christmas day games in a very long time. 2001 was the last time the Sixers played on Christmas. So for those of you wondering, “have the Sixers ever even played on Christmas day?” Yes, they have, 29 times in fact. The Sixers are 16-13 in Christmas day games.

The reason the Sixers haven’t been involved in the festivities in so long is largely because the NBA takes some of the biggest match-ups of the season and ensures that they will be scheduled on Christmas day to boost TV ratings, jersey sales, and more.

The Sixers unfortunately can not display their awesome Christmas day jerseys that are a classic red with some cream colored lettering. They’re very retro, and very clean.

Maybe in a few years, once all this tanking pays off, the Sixers will be able to claim a Christmas day game.

To see a full list of the Sixers’ December history, go here.