By James Mario Ajero
LOS ANGELES, USA – As the dust settles after the seismic Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade, NBA viewership stands to gain more from one of the most inconceivable and bizarre superstar swaps to have occurred in the league’s 75-year history.
Though a cradle of globally dominant sports talent, the NBA has – over the years – operated under a business model that required consistent viewership from the American audience.
Jordan’s Bulls bring in the viewers
The heyday of the Chicago Bulls marked a peak in NBA popularity.
Headlined by the universally-acclaimed basketball G.O.A.T, Michael Jordan, the Bulls overwhelmed the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals to claim the team’s sixth and final championship in the Air Jordan era.
Game 6 of the 1998 Bulls-Jazz series singularly held the two highest distinctions of being the most-watched game at 35.89 million viewers, along with the highest television rating of 22.3.
After Jordan retired with the Bulls in the same year, the league’s viewership plummeted, prompting the NBA to make a move to bring MJ back, as recalled by former Wizards journalist Steve Wyche in an article with Sports Illustrated in 2022.
“During the 2000–01 season, the young Wizards had floundered to a 19–63 record, the third-worst in the NBA, and drew the 12th-fewest fans in the league…TV ratings had suffered since Jordan retired from the Bulls in 1998, with a labor dispute condensing the ’99 season and NBA brass fretting over the marketability of a new generation of stars.
“The Sept. 11 attacks cast a pall over the sports world, turning routine events into security-laden shows of resolve,” wrote Whyce.
NBA interest in decline
A report from Yahoo Sports in December last year said NBA viewership on ESPN fell by 28% through November 21, just averaging 1.772 million viewers through 18 games on the network.
Earlier in October, Sports Media Watch reported that the season’s first doubleheader recorded a 42% dip in viewership compared to last year.
TNT, another network broadcasting NBA games, also observed a 30% regress in patronage, confounding a potential market problem for the league.
A trade to remember
There were past NBA trades that elated both scorn and delight, but none were as shocking compared to Dallas Mavericks draftee Luka Doncic going to the Los Angeles Lakers in replacement for a two-way player in Anthony Davis.
In an era when the NBA is facing a popularity decline, the Doncic-Davis saga is an opportunity to rekindle interest among fans.
In fact, off-court drama tends to generate a tremendous fan following, as shown by Lebron James’ live broadcast of his decision to take his talents to Miami in 2010, or Kevin Durant joining Golden State which earned him a slew of haters.
In a post on X, Nick Kelland, the Chief Strategy Officer at Forever Network, stated that these two career moves caused local TV ratings to spike by 30% to 100%, while national ratings got a 20% to 25% boost.
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