The Emirates NBA Cup may have generated some much needed excitement into the early portion of the regular season for a second straight year, but there's no doubt that Christmas Day is still viewed as the unofficial beginning of the season.
Five marquee matchups spread across the entire day, with casual fans able to tune in and get up to speed on what has happened through the first-quarter of the season (quite a lot actually) quickly. It is no surprise that the Phoenix Suns are going to be involved again this year, as Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal remain some of the biggest names in the sport.
The league itself has thrown some stealth shade at Booker though.
In the lead up to the big day, the NBA has put a clever slant on one of their best ever Christmas adverts. Last season saw the biggest names come to life and play a game under the tree - the WNBA used this storytelling style to announce Caitlin Clark as Rookie of the Year as well - and it was well received. Go back a decade though, and this was iconic.
It made sense then to combine the two, especially with some of the key players in the "Jingle Hoops" video still at the top of their game in the league today. That would be LeBron James, Kevin Durant of the Suns and Stephen Curry, all of which also feature this time out. There is also use of Anthony Edwards and Victor Wembanyama to close out the spot.
This seems calculated too, as the pair look set to carry the league as future faces of the NBA. It is the crop of current stars where the disrespect appears for the Suns though, and it is because there is no use of Booker. Jayson Tatum is in there, and so are Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic. Heck, even Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Maxey made it in there over Booker.
Why is this important? Well despite closing out the Christmas Day slate of games against the Denver Nuggets, Booker is nowhere to be seen. You could make the case that no team has two players in the video, and that Durant had to be included as a link to the past. That's all well and good - but if Booker was good enough and relevant enough - he would have been in there.
This isn't necessarily even Booker's fault either, but there's no denying that his reputation has taken a bit of a hit so far this season. This spot aimed at casual fans who are going to pick up interest again around Christmas only further confirms that. At a time when Durant is out with an ankle sprain - and Bradley Beal has missed time too - Booker has failed to take this season by the scruff of the neck.
There have been some awesome scoring performances and great nights out there - but considering an outside shot at the MVP award was gone before the end of November - it feels lacklustre for a franchise with such big ambitions. Let's hope Booker uses this slight as motivation, and gets back to being the player that at one point was thought of by some as better than Tatum.
Oh, and Durant passing the ball to Edards on the final moment of the advert? It might sound a bit amateur conspiracy theorist but the duo had a love-in at the Olympic Games this summer, and people love to speculate on the Durant's future. Feels like there was something to that to close the entertaining spot out.