Report: Lakers-Clippers tentatively set for Christmas Day

Both inhabitants of the Staples Center will get to spend Christmas at home.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are tentatively set to go head-to-head as a part of the league's annual Christmas Day showcase, Mike Besnahan of the Los Angeles Times reports. The game will be a Lakers' home game, for as much as that matters in these shared-stadium affairs.

The news has to be at least a little disappointing for fans of the Dallas Mavericks, as many had hoped for a marquee slot for Clippers-Mavericks following DeAndre Jordan's offseason about-face.

But the Lakers were always going to occupy one of the 10 spots for the Dec. 25 back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back games, and this is a nice way of not only furthering the intra-city rivalry, but of ensuring an additional team that has to play on a major holiday gets to do so close to home.

This is the third Christmas Day game to leak, even though the schedule remains tentative and likely won't be announced until next week at the earliest. Previous reports have the Cleveland Cavaliers visiting the Golden State Warriors in an NBA Finals rematch, and the Anthony Davis-led New Orleans Pelicans visiting the Miami Heat to kick off the five-set at noon.

That means the current schedule looks something like this:

• Pelicans at Heat, approximately 12 p.m. ET
• TBD, approximately 2:30 p.m. ET
• TBD, approximately 5 p.m. ET
• Cavaliers at Warriors, approximately 8 p.m. ET
• Clippers at Lakers, approximately 10:30 p.m. ET

The Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks are also Dec. 25 fixtures, and if they get their usual slots, that leaves two spots open.