The Los Angeles Lakers will face the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day. It will feature two of the best stars today in LeBron James and Luka Doncic. James himself sent out a tweet to hype up NBA fans, admitting that he too, is very much excited for tomorrow's duel.

Christmas has always been special for the NBA. Since most families will be reunited at home, the league makes sure that they get a good dose of basketball action during the holidays.

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One of the Christmas day matchups will feature the Lakers and the Mavericks. Analysts see this as a game between the present and the future. James has been the biggest basketball star over the last few years and is showing no signs of slowing down. On the other side of the spectrum is Doncic —the Slovenian who has quickly risen to elite status in his first three years in the NBA.

This season, the mission for the Lakers is pretty simple: defend their title. And on paper, the Purple and Gold have enough tools to claim their second consecutive championship. Yes, they lost some key veterans in Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard. But the likes of Dennis Schroder, Wesley Matthews, and Montrezl Harrell have filled up that void.

For the Mavs, the mission is another is to make a deeper postseason run. Last playoffs, they got booted out by the Los Angeles Clippers in six games. This time around, they're looking to get past the first round and if all goes well, represent the West in the NBA Finals.