MIAMI _ Dwyane Wade owns Christmas.
Disagree? Name a player who has won more games on Dec. 25 than Wade's 10 victories.
Having provided his fair share of holiday highlights, Wade's opinion on Christmas games matters. That's what makes his most suggestion _ that the NBA change the way the matchups are chosen _ so significant.
"Christmas games should be earned," Wade wrote on Twitter Monday evening. "Let's have an element of surprise in the schedule. The teams that are playing well are the ones that needs to be playing on Christmas Day."
In theory, Wade's rationale makes sense. It could prevent two of the worst teams in the NBA _ the Zion-less Pelicans and the Steph/Klay-less Warriors _ from playing on Christmas. Additionally, having the early regular season games mean something could be intriguing for fans.
The execution, however, could prove rather difficult.
For starters, the cut-off date would be an issue. The NBA would have to to weigh choosing the best teams against giving fans enough time to not just buy tickets but plan their entire Christmas around attending the games. On top of that, Wade's idea could have significant impact on the way the actual scheduling process.
Without belaboring the point, here are some facts: the NBA regular season consists of 1,230 games in which every team must play teams in their division four times, six teams in their conference but not in their division four times and teams in the other conference twice. To complicate things even more, the four times against six teams changes every five years.
Remember, this doesn't even begin to account for arena availability, official breaks and the NBA's TV partners. Plus, with the efforts being done to reduce the number of back-to-backs, adding an element of surprise could end up ruining a good team in the long run if they're also scheduled to play Dec. 26 on the other side of the country.
For this to work, it would take a lot of communication between teams, the NBA's Scheduling and Game Operations department and, most importantly, the computer programs that help account for the all the above factors.
Could it be done? Maybe _ but does the risk outweigh the reward?
As one of the game's greatest ambassadors, Wade's voice does hold weight. Don't put it past the Heat legend to campaign for something he believes in. If he decides to actually follow through with this, it could impact NBA scheduling forever.
