[Rankin] ... Kevin Durant continuing to address #NBA viewership being down. "I take this serious. I'm locked in as to why people don't want to watch us play."

https://x.com/DuaneRankin/status/1872176949801504956?t=sOlhzun3lYo5ImePn8Xpwg&s=19

6.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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u/YKG1998 Knicks 1d ago

KD, LeBron and Curry are old and their teams aren’t that good. There aren’t any young American stars that transcend the sport and reach casual fans. Same thing happened with tennis in this country. Basketball is an international game now so the ratings in this country especially will be down.

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u/henryofskalitzz Supersonics 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah everyone is blaming streaming but there’s way more to the story.

The NBA finals have been on ABC for 20+ years but viewership even there has fallen off since the 2019 finals. Those Cavs - GSW matchups routinely broke 20+ million viewers, while last year’s finals struggled with breaking 12 million. You can’t blame streaming on that kind of volume discrepancy

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u/SexcaliburHorsepower 1d ago

Streaming still hurt the finals. I don't have cable, downloaded the nba app, payed the subscription and still couldn't watch the games with my son.

The nba has made finding games difficult in the regular season so less people care im the post season. And now more casual fans don't know the players so even the best up and coming stars attract no attention.

Im saying this as a once huge basketball fan who, over time, lost the ability to watch games and eventually quit caring. I don't know the new players very well because actually watching games is impossible.

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u/HonestLibro 1d ago

NBA finals games start too late. I watch but I know a lot of people who don't because of the starting times

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u/HarryPotterActivist United States 1d ago

I mean, it’s a happy medium. If you start too early, the west coast and mountain west is still at work.