Average NBA finals viewership across the years.

1. Basketball pluralism- too many narratives and good players to keep track of

 It kind of feels a little crazy to say that there is a problem with the amount of competitive players and teams that there are in the current NBA- when ten years ago there were loads of complaints about the exact opposite being true. Obviously, in 2016, they were all still pro basketball players. But the cliche saying if you were an NBA fan in 2016 would be“ it’s just Golden State and the Cavs every year- it’s so predictable, they’re ruining basketball!”

This “ predictable “ 2016 NBA finals matchup raked in twice the amount of viewership as last year’s Pacers vs Thunder matchup at an average of 20 million per game- doubling the Pacers and Thunder’s ten million.  Only Game 7 of the 2025 NBA finals matched the totals 2016 met in every single game. 

It begs the question: why were fans tuning in more consistently in 2016?  And it comes with a highly anticipated answer.

Because of the stakes.

No matter how you spin it, Steph and Lebron’s fate’s were interlocked. It felt written in the stars. The King returned to his home in Cleveland after rounding out his resume with a championship pedigree in Miami; while Curry had turned the warriors into what felt like an overnight sensation- revolutionizing the game with his causal logo threes, clutch performances and underdog spirit; evolving into him being the centrepiece of one the most deceptive, innovative and high- paced offences of all time. Oh and by the way, changing the fabric of the entire sport itself!

They were superstars, in every meaning of the word. Thus, there was no question, in the heads and hearts of the fans, that it was the ultimate privilege to be witnessing the collision course that was the 2016 Cavs and the Warriors. They were competing for what felt like more than just the feeling of a championship, which can be fleeting in a world with a decreasing attention span,  but they were competing for something more than that. Legacy. For a basketball fan, is there anything more sought out than that?

Let’s take a look.

Turning our attention over to the most recent finals matchup that drew in significantly less viewership we have two challengers. The first superstar being, Tyreese Haliburton, who got benched at the Olympics for team USA the summer previous to being the centre-piece in a surprising Pacers team, that mind you is now the bottom of the league without him this season. And the slightly better candidate SGA, a guy that for American viewers feels American but is actually Canadian! And sort of appeared out of nowhere for the majority of NBA fans. Considering all of this, most fans rightfully asked themselves, with no disrespect to SGA and Hali, but out of respect for the game- WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE GUYS! Moreover, are these guys really competing for their legacies, or are they just competing for the 2025 ring? 

Every time fans ask that, they miss out on part of the experience.

And part of why they are asking themselves that is because there has been a different champion every year since 2019. The Raptors, the Lakers, the bucks, the warriors, The Nuggets, the Celtics and then the OKC thunder. The last three being Non-Lebron or Curry teams- as they respectfully age out.

The numbers obviously don’t lie, there was more of a widespread interest in basketball ten years ago. The truth being that, very counter-intuitively, the richness and plurality of the NBA is actually the thing to blame. 

What does plurality mean? It means to have variety in players, teams and styles. Yet in spite of this variety, there being no constant- no one team emerging and separating themselves from the pack. We thought it might be Denver, then the Celtics, Now OKC. In essence, within the modern NBA, the pluralism is leading to every team being able to do a lot. And when that happens, nobody really does much of anything. Every team can shoot threes. Every team can play with pace. And every team can tank and hedge their bets in the loaded draft classes of the recent years.

The NBA has become more even-keeled with a new influx of talent and brought franchises struggling for relevancy back into the conversation in the last couple of years. But the indirect consequence of this, is that all this talent has left a randomness in the league that has quietly lingered in the hearts of fans. 

To look for the more current examples of this, one just has to set their eyes upon the current 2025 standings for this season- where the Hawks and Pistons are two of the top teams in the East. Who could have expected that the Hawks and the Pistons would be on top of the East? This is good for the teams individually but not for the overarching narrative fans are looking for. We have kind of grown too accustomed to expecting the unexpected in this modern NBA. But is that a good thing? Fans love the predictability more than they know. I know that there is a select few that appreciate the randomness but that’s where it stops at, is appreciation, lacking any return into genuine emotional investment. 

It’s more than just the superstars of Steph, KD and Lebron getting older, it’s just the fact that everybody can hoop now, partially cause they watched those guys growing up, Perhaps this new age of basketball stars is the greatest legacy any of them created. Shooters like Trae Young modelling themselves after guys like Curry, or players like Victor who modelled himself after KD.

No matter how you spin it, our aging stars are now content with just being role players and guys from the G league and the European League are increasingly being added to ensure that fans will have a hard time keeping track. The days of the simplicity of LeBron and Steph, in retrospect now seem like the true golden age for basketball. The sad truth is that we never wanted this pluralism or overflow in talent, it takes away from the concept of superstars. It’s put the NBA in a tough position, since bringing more talent and skill into the league, something that is good for the game, has had the opposite intended effects as a business.

Player conduct- 

The player conduct recently has been appalling. 

We could talk just recently with the scandal of ex-coach and player Chancey Billups, being involved in a mafia ring- alongside with Terry Rozier, who faked an injury probably to even up with a mob boss. 

But the saddest part, is that even before that already huge news, we could talk about the recent decline in player conduct that led up to a gambling ring being the only thing that could really surprise us anymore.  Before that, fans can point to Draymond Green and Paul George seeming like they care more about their podcast than the records of their teams. Ja Morant, with gun charges, some even questioning if he wants to be playing basketball in the first place. 

Would any of this shit happen thirty or even ten years ago? No is the answer. In a new player-centric league, perhaps a legacy left by Lebron, players are too often abusing their power. And it’s gotten past the point where it feels like a few rotten eggs but it feels more about the culture within the NBA. In this way they are becoming their own worst enemies.

And what’s at stake with player conduct? 

 Only the entire reputation of the stars that fans come to see and the integrity of the entire game of basketball- the NBA being the primary face of that game.

What Billups and Rozier did is the worst thing that can happen because it makes fans question the legitimateness of the game. If the game’s start feeling fixed, it’s terrible for sports who thrives off the man principle that it’s an uncontrollable environment if you are not part of the game. 

But on a smaller scale, minus the odd unavoidable scandal, every sport suffers from, Draymond calling people out during his podcast and Paul George’s podcast are ruining the integrity of the game because it makes it feel less and less about the actual game of basketball every year.

Sadly, the Ja Morant’s and Zion Williamson’s are the role models and the face’s of the league for years to come. And they don’t take that role as seriously as the one’s before them did.

 Maybe players can strive to be more like Victor Webanyama and read a book before a game or something, we would just like to see them take their role more seriously. When we see them not taking that extra step outside of basketball to fulfill their role not only as basketball players but as people it confirms the whole trope of Athletes being there for their skill and god given talent and nothing because of the work ethic they put in, which is obviously there. Moreover, the bar is not raised that high for future NBA players and for other sports competing with the NBA for viewership. To be honest I would rather see every interview of the blue jays 40 man roster this season than watch Ingram throw a water bottle at an employee. So even if I like basketball, player conduct is a more than ugly look for the league, it’s a dealbreaker for some and needs to be addressed.

Globalism– Shifting attention to overseas

I think some may argue that the expansion of the NBA and, basketball as whole, is a good thing for the league. But the Romans and the British would have happily told you that most empires fall when they overstretch beyond their borders. Basketball is becoming more popularized, which is great for basketball and one could understand how the NBA thinks that by proxy,  it will be good for them too.  But it’s not, because it compromises the integrity of the sport.  Adam Silver, being a product of the times, is focused on looking outside of the American borders- smelling business oppurtuniy overseas. 

But shifting the focus to overseas menas that he runs a significantly less of a tight ship within the borders. From a business first perspective and even potentially a basketball- first outlook, you want as much outreach and fans as possible, but the paradox is that you lose a little bit of the integrity and tradition of basketball every time you do. The NBA is being filled with global stars and sure this is happening across all sports, what’s the difference? While this trend is taking place in sports like baseball, for instance with the dodgers capturing another World Series off the backs of their Japanese superstars, there’s still only three. The NBA is thirty percent international players at this point, to the extent where it’s becoming a close second popular sport to soccer. It’s leading to the loss in belief that this is an American pastime and unlike soccer, which has always belonged to everybody, people, especially an American audience will remember a time where it only belonged to them. This leaves a sour taste in their mouths even if a part of them still loves the Jokic and Lukas of the world.

Lastly, it’s important to understand how all these factors are feeding off one another and causing an overall dark age. More attention overseas= less attention to player conduct. Worse player conduct= lower ratings. More basketball plurality= worse player conduct and etc. This wouldn’t be the first time the NBA has had a dark age. Most notably it happened before the Bird- Magic era. It will take that caliber of not only a superstar but a legend to bring the NBA back to relevancy.