Skip navigation
Site powered by
Latest news:
msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines: Singing superstar Whitney Houston dies at 48

Not a normal Christmas for NBA players

Grant Hill and his family will be spending Dec. 25 in Los Angeles hotel

Hill tries to scoreAP
Suns forward Grant Hill, center, tries to score between Heat defenders Alonzo Mourning and Udonis Haslem on Dec. 10.

Grant Hill’s oldest daughter, Myla Grace, won’t wake up in her own bed on Christmas morning. She may or may not have a macaw waiting for her either, although it is at the top of her wish list. Myla Grace, however, will get a special visit from someone on Dec. 25.

No, Santa Claus already will have come and gone.

“She likes room service,” said Hill, of his 5-year-old.

Hill’s family — his parents, wife, and daughters Myla Grace and Lael Rose, who is four months — will celebrate Christmas in a Los Angeles hotel early on Dec. 25. Hill will then take the court with the visiting Phoenix Suns for an afternoon game (2 p.m. local time) against the Lakers.

“It’s not your conventional Christmas morning, but the most important thing is that we’re together,” Hill said. “It is important to be with family and enjoy the holidays, Christmas in particular.”

So is life for NBA players on the road during the holidays. There are three games on the schedule this Christmas, and players on the Miami Heat, Seattle SuperSonics, as well as Hill’s teammates with the Suns, face challenges similar to Hill’s. While tears certainly aren’t shed over the working conditions facing NBA athletes, who rake in million-dollar salaries, hoop stars are human, too. And most humans like to spend Christmas Day at home with their families.

Playing games on Christmas Day is an NBA tradition that dates back to the league’s early days, more than five decades. Earl Monroe and Dolph Schayes each played in 13 games (the most ever) on Dec. 25 during their careers.

“I think it’s fine,” said Hill, who played in his first Christmas Day game in 1996 against the Chicago Bulls when he was with the Detroit Pistons. “The whole NBA season is a little bit of a sacrifice on the family and everyone.”

Hill said that after the game the players and their families will enjoy a team dinner; Santa might even make another appearance for the kids.

Miami’s Ricky Davis said his family won’t be traveling with him to Cleveland, citing safety concerns.

“We’re going to have an early Christmas,” said Davis, who has two young sons, Tyree, 3, and Terez, 1. Tyree has made it clear what he hopes to find under the tree.

“He wants an iPod and everything Spider-Man,” Davis said. Those gifts would work well for any man, regardless of age. “Yeah, it’s still cool for me.”

Seattle’s Wally Szczerbiak, meanwhile, is also shuffling the calendar a bit in preparation for the SuperSonics game at Portland.

“We’ll move Christmas Day to Christmas Eve and it will be no problem,” Szczerbiak said. “We’ll have presents in the morning, have a nice little lunch, and I’ll head to the plane and I’ll be back Christmas night.”

Szczerbiak and his wife, Shannon, might also need to plan for a bigger backyard. Oldest daughter, Annabella Rose, who turns 5 in February, has grand plans.

  Special feature
“She wants everything horses,” Szczerbiak said. “A big horse fan. Those will be her big presents. No real horse though — yet.”

SuperSonics PR Director Tom Savage, whose wife, Nancy, and 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, are traveling with him to Portland, had to convince his daughter that a Portland hotel wouldn’t cause Santa any difficulties. Savage showed Isabella Internet pictures of the hotel, assuring her that the building indeed has chimneys.

The plans of today’s players weren’t welcomed in the 1950s and 1960s.


advertisement
Slideshow
Image: Snee, 8, son of New York Giants player Chris Snee and head coach Coughlin's grandson plays in the confetti after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis
  The Week in Sports Pictures
The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more.

more photos

  ProBasketballTalk tweets

  1. Loading the latest posts…

Source: Twitter. For more, follow @basketballtalk.

Video: NBA from NBC Sports
Lin on on 'Linsanity'
Knicks guard Jeremy Lin discusses the hype surrounding his recent rise in New York.

Slideshow
Washington Wizards v Charlotte Bobcats
  Get your cheer on
Check out some of the dancers from the NBA.

more photos

  Ask the NBA expert: Ira Winderman

Do you have a burning NBA question? Submit it now, and then check back for our reader mailbag.

Special feature
Image: LeBron James
Who will be MVP?
Interactive: Rank each player on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 = best player, 0 = barely worthy of consideration).

NBCSports.com

Slideshow
Image: Blake Griffin
  NBA All-Star starters
A look at the starting lineups for the East and West teams.

more photos