Ranking NBA Christmas Day performances: Where does Luka Doncic's 50-point game rank?

1. Bernard King - 1984

As much as we would like to label Luka Doncic's performance as the greatest Christmas Day performance of all time, Bernard King unfortunately takes the top spot on this list of greatest Christmas Day performances of all time. King put up 60 points on 19-30 shooting for the New York Knicks on Christmas Day in 1984, and he finished with 40 points just after the first half.

The Knicks actually ended up losing the game 114-120 to the New Jersey Nets, but back in 1984 there was only one Christmas game played in the NBA across the whole league, so King was the sole center of attention at the time. King's 60 points also stood as the record for most points scored at Madison Square Garden until Kobe Bryant broke the record with 61 points in 2009.

Granted that Madison Square Garden is the mecca of basketball, King's performance holds the most significance on this list, and he scored 60 in a pretty competitive era that didn't feature the 3-point line near as much. King's performance certainly wasn't as prolific as Doncic's since he didn't contribute to the game in other facets besides scoring nearly as much as Doncic did during his Christmas Day performance, but scoring 60 on contested mid-range jumpers and tough layups all game is certainly no easy feat.

Perhaps Doncic will break King's record in a future Christmas Day game and will wield the title of "Best single-game performance on Christmas in NBA history", but for now we can appreciate just how much of an anomaly Doncic's Christmas Day performance was. For more on Doncic and everything else going on with the Dallas Mavericks, stay plugged in with us as we'll have you covered.