Moments after the Lakers narrowly edged out the Warriors on Christmas Day, LeBron James sent a message to the sports world: “I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.”
However, in an appearance on the New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce on Wednesday, James backtracked his statement. The Lakers star admitted he saw the viewership numbers for the NBA’s five-game slate compared to the NFL’s doubleheader on Netflix.
“You guys kicked our ass, all right. From a viewership standpoint, y’all kicked our ass,” James said.
The NBA, however, did post positive viewership numbers on Christmas with an average of 5.32 million viewers, up 87% from last year, which cut its overall season viewership decline to 4% from 18%. The Lakers-Warriors clash was the league’s most-watched of the year, with an average of 7.76 million viewers.
Unsurprisingly, the NBA’s ratings paled in comparison to the over 26 million viewers the NFL’s two games drew on Netflix. The NBA fared better when comparing social media numbers—but the NFL also received a boost from the halftime performance of Beyoncé during the Ravens-Texans game.
Ultimately, James, who at 40 years old, is still one of the faces of the NBA, admitted he just felt the need to “stand up for the NBA” on Christmas.
The NBA has played games on Dec. 25 since the 1940s, while the NFL has only sporadically scheduled games on the holiday. However, the NFL has scheduled at least one game on Christmas every year since 2020 and is expected to continue as its deal with Netflix runs for two more years.
