Viewership is leading the conversation in the NBA as numbers continue to decline.
According to Front Office Sports, viewership on ESPN was down 28% in the season’s first month. Across all three of the league’s national partners — ABC, ESPN, and TNT — viewership was down 19% year-over-year through the NBA Cup semifinals, according to Sports Media Watch.
On social media, theories and hot takes as to why range from too many three-pointers to the season being too long and streaming making it too difficult to find games. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla admitted on Thursday that he’s part of the problem as well, saying in part that he’d “rather watch something else.”
The Celtics average the most three-point attempts in the league, making Mazzulla’s second-place team the issue in many people’s eyes. To him, the attempts aren’t the problem as long as they make them. Asked what he would say in a hypothetical conversation with a fan who thinks too many threes are to blame, Mazzulla said he’d pose his own.
“I would say, ‘What are you watching then? Soccer where there’s no goals? Are you watching football where there’s too many points?'”
Bulls coach Billy Donovan didn’t take too deep of a dive on the reasons behind the NBA’s declining viewership. The league offices, he said, have all the insight into why the watchability of the league has taken such a drastic hit. Instead, he offered a story of what watching the NBA was like growing up in New York in the 70s and 80s.
“I remember growing up and you’d watch the entire game,” Donovan said. “You know, on CBS with Dick Stockton and those guys. Being from New York, whether it was the Knicks playing against Philly or Boston’s playing Philly or the Lakers are playing whoever they’re playing, it was always a doubleheader.
What’s happened now, just in terms of social media and everything else, people have gotten away from really watching games in its entirety.”
While many people on social media blame the number of threes taken, Donovan took a swing at social media and its contribution to a highlight-obsessed culture.
“What’s happened now with social media and everything else, people have gotten away from really watching games in its entirety,” Donovan said. “They’ve gotten way more into streaming, watching highlights and watching to know what happened then moving on.”
Reasons why viewers have taken issue with the NBA have changed with each era of the game. It was once too physical. Then, it was that there was no defense being played at all. Now, it’s the three-point game.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver isn’t concerned because the interest, he said, is still there.
“We’re at a point where our social media audience is at the highest of any league and continuing to grow exponentially,” Silver told The Athletic. “So, it’s not a lack of interest in this game.”
An expensive holiday greeting
Near the end of the Bulls’ 117-108 win over the Celtics on Thursday in Boston, Mazzulla lost his cool in a costly way. Following three late technical fouls on Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and one on him, Mazzulla reached a boiling point. He charged at official Justin Van Duyne to express his displeasure.
After the game, he told reporters he was merely attempting to wish him happy holidays. Those season greetings came with a $35,000 fine from the NBA.
Injuries
Dalen Terry was upgraded to available Saturday night after missing the last three games with a right knee injury. Torrey Craig was out against the Celtics with a left Achilles injury.
Donovan said Josh Giddey is progressing after spraining his right ankle against the Raptors on Monday. Donovan doesn’t expect it to be weeks the Bulls are without Giddey, but he’ll have to pass certain protocols on the court before he can return to play.