Cavs News: 3 Christmas gifts, LeVert milestone, NBA slate

Christmas is a holiday where Cleveland Cavaliers fans could regularly see the Wine and Gold in action, in the LeBron James days that is. That is not the case at this point, but after a resurgent 2021-22 campaign where the team won 44 games, the Cavaliers look to be taking another step forward, as KJG’s John Suchan emphasized. Cleveland currently has a 22-12 record, which is good for third in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavs would seem to be a club that should be on the verge of, or is in the conversation of, contender status. With that in mind, and with young stars such as Darius Garland and offseason trade acquisition Donovan Mitchell in tow, we could definitely see Cleveland on the Christmas Day slate once again in years ahead.

For now, however, we’ll take a look at some noteworthy Cavs news of late, and examine the league’s Christmas batch of games for this go-round.

More Cavs news

It’s been a fruitful holiday season for Cavs fans, with Mitchell and the group taking their play to the next level to begin this season, and at several points, having notable winning streaks.

KJG’s Josh Cornelissen touched on three Christmas gifts that the Cavaliers have given this go-round, including the group giving fans a legit contender to root for going forward. You can read more on that from Cornelissen here, and it’s easy to foresee why plenty of Cavs fans are looking ahead for what’s seemingly to come down the road.

The Cavaliers had far from their best performance on Friday night in a loss to the Toronto Raptors, but it was nice for Caris LeVert for him to hit the 5,000 point milestone. LeVert did so in the third quarter in that contest, and has been playing much better in recent games. For his career, he’s amassed 5,001 points.

It’s still difficult to have a firm stance on whether or not LeVert can be a long-term piece for Cleveland. Even still, he has still demonstrated that he can give this Cavs team a jolt, and that’s been a welcomed sight, more so recently.

NBA news

As we alluded to, the Cavaliers are not a club that will be playing on Christmas Day this go-round. They haven’t since LeBron James was back with the Wine and Gold in 2018, but given how the Cavs turned a corner noticeably last season, and with their rise this season, they should be involved in the Christmas Day slate next season.

For this year’s slate of contests, though, the following matchups will be featured on an always packed day of NBA action (all times EST, viewing available via ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Watch ESPN and/or NBA League Pass):

• Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks – 12 PM
• Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks – 2:30 PM
• Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics – 5 PM
• Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors – 8 PM
• Phoenix Suns at Denver Nuggets – 10:30 PM

Hopefully, we see Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and the Wine and Gold in game action on Christmas Day next year.

Next up: The Cavs will be back in action on Monday night versus the surging Brooklyn Nets.