NBA trying to make up for Christmas Day slight with one major boost for Thunder

Despite finishing last season as the top seed in the Western Conference standings and with the second-best record in the entire league, the NBA deemed that the OKC Thunder were not worthy of partaking in this year's Christmas Day showcase.

Over the years, December 25 has become the biggest date on the regular season calendar, as it generally tries to include the association’s marquee franchises squaring off against one another throughout the day.

Though they finished as one of the final eight teams left standing in 2023-24 and head into the new season with the second-best odds of claiming the Larry O'Brien Trophy, the league ultimately decided to pass on Oklahoma City being involved in the illustrious X-Mas Day shenanigans.

To many, this is nothing short of an egregious snub.

However, despite their omission from holiday festivities, following the official release of the 2024-25 regular season schedule for all 30 teams, it's rather apparent that Adam Silver and company still do view the Thunder as one of the league's top teams, and will be giving fans ample opportunity to watch them play on the national stage throughout the campaign.

Thunder see massive boost in nationally televised games in 2024-25

Heading into the new season, the Thunder find themselves slated to have 25 of their games nationally televised (i.e., aired on ESPN, ABC, TNT, or NBA TV), tying them for the 10-most in the entire league.

This is nearly double the amount the franchise was allotted coming into last year, and, with their 12-game bump, they trail only the Minnesota Timberwolves and directly lead the incredibly popular New York Knicks when it comes to the largest increase of national TV games broadcasted.

In their 13 outings played on the nationwide broadcasts in 2023-24, the Thunder found themselves wrapping with a rather pedestrian record of 7-6, though still managed to come away with a total of +18 in the points-over-opponent department.

Oklahoma City is looking to take the next step in their title-contention journey, and have set themselves up quite nicely to do so what with their high-end offseason additions of Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso to shore up previous rotational sore spots.

With the first of their 25 nationally televised games coming as soon as opening night (October 24), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company will have the opportunity early and often to showcase their improved play to a wide audience this year.

Though it may not be as exciting as being included in the Christmas Day slate, this seems to be a way in which the NBA is attempting to make up for excluding the franchise.