Despite a slight downtick in this year’s NBA regular-season ratings, the numbers showed the Lakers and Warriors—and their respective stars LeBron James and Steph Curry—remained the league’s best draw.
The most-watched game of the season was the Christmas Day game between the Warriors and Lakers, which drew 7.9 million viewers on ABC. It was also the league’s most-watched regular-season game in five years.
The Jan. 25 meeting was also the second-most-watched non-Christmas Day game of the season (3 million), behind the March 8 game between the Lakers and Celtics, the league’s most storied rivalry. But the Jan. 25 game was missing some starpower—Luka Dončić and Jimmy Butler—All-Star midseason acquisitions of Los Angeles and Golden State, respectively.
Some of the most-watched games exclusively on cable also included the Lakers. Their season opener against the Timberwolves, the NBA debut of Bronny James Jr., was the second-most-watched game on TNT this season. Excluding opening night games, Dončić’s first game against the Mavericks on Feb. 25 was the most-watched TNT game this year (2.5 million), while his return to Dallas on April 9 was the most-watched game on ESPN.
Potential Semis Meeting
Golden State’s loss to the Clippers on Sunday shut the door on a potential first-round series against Los Angeles, but their Play-In Tournament win over the Grizzlies on Tuesday means both teams could meet in the second round.
The Lakers are favorites to beat the Timberwolves (-196), while the Warriors are favored over the Rockets (-188), according to FanDuel, despite not having home-court advantage.
A second-round series would do wonders for the NBA. The two teams battled in 2023, and averaged 7.8 million viewers, the most-watched semis in 27 years. It would also guarantee that either the Lakers or the Warriors would make the conference finals.
James, Curry, and Dončić were also the most-viewed players of the season on social media, respectively. The same three players had the most popular jerseys of the season, though Dončić led the way, followed by Curry, then James.
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