The holiday season is here and NBA players celebrate them just like you and me. They sing all of the classic holiday hits just like you and me. They also share the hesitation with knowing ALL of the lyrics to the song like us as well…
The Mavericks have a diverse roster that brings different Christmas upbringings to the table.
Dirk Nowitzki and Maxi Kleber are from Germany. Luka Doncic is from Slovenia. Salah Mejri is from Tunisia. Ryan Broekhoff is from Australia. J.J. Barea is from Puerto Rico. Dwight Powell is from Canada.
Does that last one really count when it comes to a different type of Christmas? I’m not too sure because I was unable to ask Dwight about his holidays north of the border, but I did get a chance over the past few weeks to ask Maxi Kleber, J.J. Barea and Ryan Broekhoff about some of the various holiday things that went on in their respective countries growing up. Luckily, these Mavericks didn’t give me the Kawhi Leonard treatment when I asked them about Christmas.
Don't ask Kawhi about Christmas 😂
(via @TomerAzarly)pic.twitter.com/VvbKYCrjRc
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 12, 2018
You’ve got a fun one, Toronto.
We’ll start by examining some of what makes Christmas unique when we go “down undah.”
Ryan Broekhoff, who recently announced that he and his wife are expecting their first child next year, is in his first NBA season and hails from Melbourne, Australia. Embarrassingly, it was news to me that the (weather) seasons are flipped over in Australia. According to the weather encyclopedia that is Wikipedia, Melbourne’s average high temperature in December is a very pleasant 77 degrees fahrenheit compared to just 56 in July.
Broekhoff speaks in a delightful accent that is everything you could ever want from hearing a native Australian speak here in Dallas. When talking about the weather down under this time of year, he states that “Australia is in a hot patch.”
“You might be by the pool instead of rugged up inside.” I know it’s obvious, but just to be cautious, “rugged up” is a term used in England, Australia and New Zealand for putting on warm clothes. Simply delightful on the ears, I tell you.
With the warmer temperatures, Broekhoff says that the average Australian family isn’t cooking up the same comfort foods we do for holiday meals here in the U.S.
“There are some families that cook Christmas lunch on the barbeque (he didn’t say “barbie” unfortunately) or have seafood.”
If you head over 10,000 miles Northwest of the Broekhoff’s enjoying seafood on Christmas Day, you might bump into Maxi Kleber’s family celebrating Christmas the German way in Wurzburg.
Kleber, in his second year with the Mavericks, describes a more laid back style of celebrating Christmas.
“We usually just celebrate on the 24th. The way we did it, the 24th was family just having good food.”
Maxi is familiar with the typical U.S. style of celebrating on Christmas Day but says that his family didn’t do that. It was just a day for relaxation or seeing more family.
“When I was really little, we had German food,” Kleber says of his Christmas time cuisine. “But at one point, we switched and had raclette.” That term came out with a thick German accent which isn’t common at all in Kleber’s way of speaking. So when he and I went back and forth a time or two on how to correctly say it, he kindly offered to Google it for me so I could be more familiar with it.
Kleber’s simple description of the meal: “You grill cheese, and have potatoes and some veggies. It’s like a fondue, basically.”
For the Food Network crowd, here is an 11 minute video on a raclette meal. If that isn’t you, keep scrolling.
A little bit closer to home, J.J. Barea’s upbringing in Puerto Rico was a little more familiar to me and my Hispanic roots. Make some noise and have a good time, for lack of a better way of putting it.
“In Puerto Rico, we do parrandas,” Barea says with a smile before describing them. “It’s like going house to house, drinking and partying with the families.” My wife is from Mexico and wasn’t quite familiar with the house to house aspect of it, so I had to look this up where anyone goes to study other cultures: YouTube.
Barea, in his 13th NBA season, doesn’t get to be home to experience those as much with the holidays being right in the heart of the NBA season.
“Here, we just keep it straight American, you know? Just presents and the tree. Have a nice little get together the night before.”
Barea has two young children and his older son, Sebastian, is frequently in the locker room and seen dribbling a ball on the court before games.
“I’m blessed — my parents gave me awesome Christmases. I try to spoil my kids as much as I can; especially at Christmas,” Barea says. “To see their faces in the morning is priceless.”
As the holiday season reaches its peak, it’s time to be thankful for all of our time with family and friends.
The Mavs will be lucky enough to spend the 23rd through 26th here at home and hopefully with as much family as possible. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and Mavericks basketball being on is a big part of that.
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