Rakeem Christmas, I applaud you for your patience and attitude. It must be hard for NBA players to sit on the bench and not play for so long. For Rakeem Christmas, the wait was especially long.
Christmas played in just one game as a rookie — the final game of the 2015-2016 regular season. A game that meant nothing for Indiana, who already locked up the 7th seed for the playoffs.
He wasn’t playing meaningful minutes for the Indiana Pacers this season until they played the Memphis Grizzlies on February 24th. Al Jefferson was out due to dental work, so Christmas got the nod as the backup center.