LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers will square off against former teammate Pau Gasol and the revamped Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day this season, according to multiple league sources.
It will be the Lakers' 16th straight Christmas Day game, dating to 1999, but the first they've played on the road since going to Miami to play Shaquille O'Neal and the Heat in 2006.
In another game on the calendar with reunion implications, L.A. will open the season against the Houston Rockets, according to sources. Bryant was injured for all four of the Lakers' games against Houston last season in Dwight Howard's first campaign with the Rockets after spurning L.A. in free agency last summer.
The NBA officially will release the entire schedule for the 2014-15 season Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET.