Indiana Pacers rookie forward Rakeem Christmas has a unique taste when it come to items he collects and the types of pets he likes to own. From Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star:
- "If the skulls in the bathroom and the spiders in the bedroom aren't hair-raising enough, there's the Chucky doll standing in the hallway, staring with that bulging eye and sinister smile. If all of that isn't eerie enough, maybe the boa constrictor slithering about is. In the world of the NBA – and probably just about any other world – Indiana Pacers forward Rakeem Christmas' apartment is among the creepiest. Suffice it to say, Christmas definitely landed the wrong holiday surname. He should be Rakeem Halloween. ... As he attempted to explain it all, roommate Benny Birch tried to outline how he would describe Christmas' tastes. 'I wouldn't say scary," said Birch, who went to high school with Christmas. Creepy? 'Uh, just different. Just different,' Birch said. As he was saying that, Christmas pulled Riri out of her cage, which sits on a table in the corner of his bedroom. Riri, named after singer Rihanna, is Christmas' pet red-tailed boa constrictor. She's little now, but soon will grow to six feet long."
Christmas, selected with the 36th pick in the 2015 draft, was drafted by Minnesota and then sent to the Cavs as part of a trade. On July 23, the Pacers acquired Christmas via trade with Cleveland.
