The NBA has already confirmed the schedule for opening night and it will pit the Los Angeles Lakers against Stephen Curry and the defending champions Golden State Warriors. As expected, LeBron James and Co. are also going to be playing on Christmas Day, and it now sounds like they're going to get a Luka Doncic-sized present.

A first draft of the league's Christmas Day schedule has been released, and the highlight of the special occasion will see the Lakers take on the Dallas Mavericks in what should be an epic Western Conference showdown (h/t ClutchPoints on Twitter):

At this point in the offseason, it wouldn't exactly be a good exercise to try and predict this potential matchup, primarily because of the fact that the Lakers are still expected to make some moves before the season begins. There has not been much movement in this respect of late, but LA supporters are still holding out hope that the front office still has a trick or two up its sleeve.

Otherwise, the Lakers are going to have to come into the new campaign with pretty much the same lineup as they did last year. And we all know how that turned out.

The Doncic-led Mavs, on the other hand, are going to look much different. Apart from the fact that Luka has been working hard in the offseason to get into the best shape of his life, Dallas also brought in Christian Wood as a key addition to their frontcourt. The Mavs are hoping that this is going to be their year and a win against the Lakers on Christmas Day would be a step in the right direction for them.