Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Millions of people took time out of Easter to tune in to at least one of the four NBA playoff games that were on the slate on Sunday. However, it doesn’t sound like Phil Jackson is one of them based on what he had to say about the league’s tendency to schedule contests on “sacred days.”
The NBA is the only member of America’s “Big Four” sports leagues that has the ability to schedule games that coincide with the two biggest days on the Christian calendar: Christmas and Easter (the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement mandates a three-day holiday break in the winter that usually stretches from December 24th to 26th).
The league basically had a monopoly on Christmas before the NFL decided to come at its crown a few years ago, as it has historically used the holiday to schedule contests designed to showcase its best teams and players.
It hasn’t given Easter the same treatment, but fans celebrating the occasion can usually tune into at least a few games on the holy day that falls on a Sunday between March 21st and April 25th each year.
It’s safe to assume there are plenty of players who’d prefer to spend those holidays at home with their family as opposed to providing entertainment for fans who are able to do exactly that, although it’s hard to feel too bad for them when you consider they tend to be handsomely compensated for the inconvenince.
However, there’s one notable name who would seemingly ban the NBA from scheduling games on religious holidays if he had his way, as Phil Jackson—who played in nine Christmas games during his NBA career and coached in another 18—made a fairly rare appearance on social media on Sunday to take the league to task for the quartet of postseason showdowns that unfolded on Easter this year.
Again the NBA tests faith by playing multiple games on Christmas and Easter…sacred days.
— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) April 20, 2025
Most NBA fans probably associate Jackson with the Buddhist beliefs that led to him being nicknamed the “Zen Master,” but he has also retained some of the Christian principles that came with being raised in a strict Pentecostal household.
He may not be a fan of the NBA’s approach to Christmas and Easter, but it’s hard to imagine his discontent is going to spark any major change.