NBA Ratings

NBA ratings have been taking a dip of biblical proportions this season. So much so that the powers-that-be are actually considering making MAJOR changes to the league as we know it. Shortening the season to 78 games, changing the playoff format by re-seeding the final 4 teams, and adding a mid-season 30-team tournament.

I don’t know if this is being progressive, or reeking of desperation…It may be a healthy mix of both. I do know that there have already been nine nationally televised games this season have failed to net 1 million viewers. To put that into context, this only happened Nineteen times ALL OF LAST SEASON. That means that people aren’t tuning in to the NBA regular season like they used to. Mark Cuban blames it on households “cutting the cord”…and while I think this probably has something to do with it, I don’t think it would account for this big of a dip.

Here are some of the obvious factors that I think are causing people to tune out. There’s the east/west region-bias. We see the same thing when in other major sports when it comes to end-of-season awards, especially in college football. Heisman Trophy voters admitting that they’ve never even seen the PAC-12 player play. People on the east coast simply aren’t staying up to watch the teams/players on the west coast. There are the other obvious issues: The NBA’s most popular and most polarizing player, Lebron James, playing out in LA. Zion Williamson was being heralded as the biggest NBA prospect since LBJ, and he got hurt and is missing the beginning of the season. KD left, Klay got hurt, and The Warriors now stink (that team is going to get a lottery pick, AND have a healthy Steph/Klay/Draymond/Russsell…but we’ll save that for another day). All of these things contribute to the ratings dip. But I don’t think this is the whole story, and I think there are deeper-rooted issues…

Here are a couple of things that I see:

1. I’m pretty sure that I’m in the minority here, but I think super-teams are actually hurting the NBA. Everyone shouldn’t be friends with everyone (I have the same problem with the PGA Tour right now). I don’t need my favorite team’s best player riding jet-skis with the best player from their rival team. A little hatred is good…hell, it’s GREAT for sports. Need proof? See: Lakers/Celtics, Pistons/Bulls, Michigan/OSU, Notre Dame/Michigan, UNC/Duke, Steelers/Browns, Chiefs/Raiders, Lions/Bears, USA/Patriots, and OF COURSE Calvin/Hope. I would much rather see stars be stars on their own teams and overcome other teams and great players, rather than joining up and forming super-teams full of all-stars.
2.  Piggy-backing on the super-teams point is this: The regular season is bordering on pointless without parity in the NBA. Right now, I can pretty safely predict who the top 3-4 teams in each conference will be, come playoff time (in no particular order). East-Bucks, Celtics, Raptors…West-Lakers, Clippers, Rockets, Nuggets. If you don’t root for a super-team, hopefully your team is playing for the chance to be a 5-8 seed and be a warm-up series for the big boys. Most of these teams will be happy to win a game in the series. Sure, there might be one upset series, but I can promise you that it isn’t going to be against a 1-2 seed.

Of course this whole thing hinges on the stars being void of injuries, which no one can predict. I think if LBJ and AD don’t start managing their minutes, one/both of them is getting hurt. LBJ has a lot of miles, and AD is an injury-prone player, Kawhi is already on “load-management”, and who knows what Zion will be when he comes back. I would argue the only things saving the NBA right now are DFS, and the emergence of Luka…but that can only take you so far.

Good luck NBA…this guy will see you in the conference finals.

-Czar