Former Wildcats highlight Christmas Day NBA matchups

The Kentucky Wildcats have churned out some of the best basketball players in the world. With numerous former players in the NBA, Kentucky fans almost perennially get to watch a familiar face in the NBA Finals.

This upcoming season, they’ll also get to see nine during the league’s Christmas Day games.

While those five won’t kick off the season, there’s no denying that the winding down of football combined with the holiday help make them some of the most-watched games of the regular season.

To kick off the day, the Hawks will take on the Knicks at noon. In that game, we’ll see Kevin Knox, Nerlens Noel, Immanuel Quickley and Julius Randle all on New York (we should just start calling them the New York Wildcats).

Enes Kanter will be the lone player in the Celtics-Bucks game that follows that one. In a star-studded matchup after that, Mychal Mulder’s Warriors will take Devin Booker’s Suns, a franchise coming off an NBA Finals berth.

In the fourth of five matches, Anthony Davis and Malik Monk will join the rest of the Lakers in taking on the Nets, easily the most-anticipated game of the day. Lastly, the Mavericks and Jazz will square off in the lone match that doesn’t feature any Cats, for now.

That said, it’s easy to see how many Cats are playing on some of the league’s top teams, and with players like Rajon Rondo still potentially on the move, there could be even more when it’s all said and done.

With a potentially special team playing in Lexington this fall, there’s no denying fans should be excited about both the players in the NBA and those currently in the program.

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