Shams Charania of ESPN gave fans of 10 teams an early Christmas gift by revealing that their favorite team will be playing on that very holiday. One of those teams is the Timberwolves. After Minnesota never appeared on the December 25 schedule until 2016, this will now be their fourth time playing on Christmas Day. They own a 2-1 record in the first three.
It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that their opponent is the Nuggets (as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweeted out, Minnesota had a case to be the home team, but they are not). The two squads have had some great battles of late, and this Christmas meeting has a chance to be the best of the five games on the schedule.
A very logical Christmas Day game for the Wolves. I’d argue it should be at home given the way the two teams finished last season and the last two years, but a compelling matchup nonetheless. https://t.co/NaBjsV4c9L
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) August 8, 2025
Two of the game's best go head-to-head
While they play two different positions, it’s always fun watching two of the best go head-to-head. According to DraftKings Sportsbook, Nikola Jokić is the odds-on favorite to win MVP, while Anthony Edwards comes in at fifth.
It was a little over four months ago that Jokic dropped a career-high 61 points against Minnesota. The Timberwolves still won in double overtime. It was one of the best regular season games of the year.
Minnesota actually swept the four-game season series, the first time they did so against Denver since the 2002-03 season. Despite that, the Nuggets finished one game better than the Wolves, and the same occurred in the 2023-24 standings.
Edwards has finished seventh in MVP voting the past two seasons. The 24-year-old dropped 26 points in his first Christmas game last year, a win over the Mavericks. Ant-Man was wonderful in the four meetings against the Nuggets last season. He posted averages of 31.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 6.8 assists.
Playoff battles
It was in 2024 where the Timberwolves and Nuggets had one of the more back-and-forth series in recent memory. Minnesota won the first two, before Denver took the next three. As the reigning champs at the time, nearly everyone counted out the Wolves.
Instead, they won Game 6 by a whopping 45 points. Trailing by 15 at halftime of Game 7, the Timberwolves outscored Denver 60-37 in the second half to secure the eight-point win. It’s seen as one of the most memorable wins in franchise history, as it earned Minnesota just their second trip to the conference finals in franchise history, and it came in a game where Edwards shot just 6-24 from the field.
In 2023, they also met in the playoffs in a year where the Nuggets won the title. It can be argued that the Timberwolves, their first round opponent, gave them their toughest series though. After a 29-point game win in Game 1, Denver only outscored Minnesota by 15 points in the ensuing four games.
The Timberwolves have gotten the better of the Nuggets each of the last two seasons. Denver retooled this offseason by adding Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jonas Valančiūnas. The Joker has more help, but it would be a punch to the gut if the Timberwolves come out on top again during the biggest day of games in the regular season.