in the past seven years, with the Lakers beating the Warriors on Dec. 25, 2018, in James’ first season with the Lakers.

In addition to the 2018 matchup, James’ and Curry’s teams squared off on Christmas for three consecutive seasons (2015-17) when James was on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Curry didn’t play in the 2017 game.

But matchups between James and Curry have historically had more at stake than Christmas Day game bragging rights.

Their teams met in four consecutive NBA Finals (2015-18), with Curry’s Warriors winning the title in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and James’ Cavaliers coming out on top in 2016 after coming back from a 3-1 series.

“For me, as a fan, it was an awesome stretch,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “For me as a player, it wasn’t a great stretch because I wasn’t in those Finals. But it was great to have two of the icons of this generation go head to head and have some for sure classic series, and then just also some classic games and classic moments.

“Throughout the history of the NBA, player and team rivalries have been good for the league and that sort of captured a moment in our generation.”

The Lakers and Warriors also faced off in the 2021 Play-In Tournament and the second round of the 2023 playoffs, with the Lakers winning both matchups.

“It’s going to be good,” Anthony Davis said. “We always have battles with them, we’ve seen them in the playoffs a couple of years. It’s going to be fun to go up to The Bay and try to get a win on Christmas Day.”

Not including the Play-In Tournament game, today will mark the 53rd matchup between a team led by James and Curry. Curry’s teams have a 29-23 record in those matchups, including a 17-11 record in the playoffs.

But the relationship between James, who’s in his 22nd NBA season and will turn 40 Monday, and Curry, who’s in his 16th NBA season and will turn 37 in March, has evolved over the years since consistently playing against one another in the Finals.

James and Curry teamed up this past summer, leading Team USA to a gold medal in the Paris Olympics.

“It’s a fun battle because of the longevity of how long we’ve been doing this,” Curry said during an appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Today” on Tuesday. “There’s more appreciation and respect than probably back in the day because there was a lot of pettiness and resentment. The rivalry was real but it evolves and you still want to go at each other, but the respect is there.”