The NBA has encountered a significant decline in viewership, with ratings on ESPN plummeting by 28% during the start of the 2024-25 season.
Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal thinks he knows the reason why – and no, it doesn’t have to do with how little everyone seems to care about the NBA’s regular season.
Front Office Sports reports that while the league’s season debut was a relative hit, games since then have been woefully underperforming in drawing attention to the product.
Sports Media Watch concurs, noting the NBA saw “sharp declines.”
NBA game viewership on ESPN, the league’s primary broadcasting ally, has decreased by nearly 30% compared to the previous year.
Shaq Reasons Why NBA Ratings Are Down
Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal believes he knows why the league is struggling with ratings – too many teams that can’t shoot the three firing them up anyway.
“We’re looking at the same thing,” O’Neal said. “Everybody is running the same plays. And [the Warriors] messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team isn’t a 3-point shooter.”
“So why [does] everybody have the same strategy? I think it makes the game boring.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this theory. Legendary former Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan thinks the implementation of the three-point shot in the NBA is the worst thing. Ever.
“For me, the three-point shot is the single worst thing to happen to basketball in my lifetime,” Ryan said during an appearance on The Ricky Cobb Show earlier this month.
Ryan called it a “gimmick” that has gone too far and, wouldn’t you know it, he also blamed the Warriors. Steph Curry, in particular.
“All over America, 8-year-olds are cranking up threes. Steph Curry is the single most influential player of the 21st century…,” he said. “Every little kid wants to be Steph Curry, and it’s the game, the three-point shot.”
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Adam Silver In Denial
The three-point shot is out of control in the NBA. Like with baseball and sabermetrics, coaches have deduced the percentages of makes, even at a lesser rate, eventually yields more points.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver offered different excuses for the anemic ratings.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the 3-point shot,” Silver counters. “I think we’re just looking at a couple weeks of ratings, there’s always some unique things, this year we were up against a World Series … you had a presidential election which was commanding an enormous amount of attention.”
The league’s attempt to attribute this ratings slump to external factors like the presidential election or the World Series does not hold up under scrutiny. Other major sports like the NFL and college football have either maintained or increased viewership during similar time frames.
One has to wonder how much the Bronny and LeBron James charity show has contributed to folks realizing the league is a bit of a joke right now.
My suggestion to improve ratings? Listen to Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, and institute fights and power plays!
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