Viewership has become a hot topic 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% through the NBA Cup semifinals, according to Sports Media Watch.
On social media, theories and hot takes abound for the drop, ranging from too many three-pointers to the season being too long to streaming making it too difficult to find games. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla admitted 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 shots in the league, making Mazzulla’s team the issue in many people’s eyes. To him, the shots 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 questions.
“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 into the reasons behind the NBA’s declining viewership. The league office, he said, has all the insight into why the appeal of the league has taken such a drastic hit. Instead, he offered a story of what watching the NBA was like 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 playing Philly or the Lakers 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 their entirety.”
While many people on social media blame the number of threes taken, Donovan took a swipe at social media.
“They’ve gotten way more into streaming, watching highlights and watching to know what happened, then moving on,” he said.
Reasons why viewers have taken issue with the NBA have fluctuated with each era. It used to be too physical. Then it was because no defense was being played. 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 Christmas greeting
Near the end of the Bulls’ 117-108 road victory Thursday against the Celtics, Mazzulla lost his cool in a costly way. After three late technical fouls on Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and 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’s greetings came with a $35,000 fine from the NBA.
Injury report
Forward Dalen Terry was upgraded to available after missing the last three games with an injured right knee.
Forward Torrey Craig was out with an injured left Achilles.
Donovan said that guard Josh Giddey is making progress after spraining his right ankle Monday in the road game against the Raptors. He doesn’t think Giddey will be out for weeks, but he’ll have to pass certain protocols on the court before he can return.