Not too long ago the marquee attraction in the NBA, Lakers-Warriors was the least-watched of the four NBA games on broadcast television last weekend.
Lakers-Warriors averaged a 1.2 rating and 2.18 million viewers on the latest edition of ABC’s “NBA Saturday Primetime,” marking the teams’ least-watched matchup on ABC (15 total). Keep in mind that all-but-one of those meetings have come since LeBron James joined the Lakers in 2018 (the exception was the 17-win Lakers’ upset of the 73-win Warriors in 2016).
The two least-watched Lakers-Warriors games on ABC have come this season, with their previous matchup three weeks earlier averaging 2.47 million. As is no coincidence, Warriors G Stephen Curry missed both games due to injury. But the last time the teams met on ABC without Curry in the lineup — February 2023 — viewership was considerably stronger at 3.05 million.
None of the three Lakers-Warriors games this season have featured both James and Curry. The teams meet once more this season, in April on Prime Video.
Notably, the Lakers’ blowout win was the least-watched of the weekend’s four NBA games on broadcast television. ABC on Sunday averaged a 1.5 and 2.74 million for Timberwolves-Nuggets and a 1.3 and 2.48 million for Spurs-Knicks. On NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball,” Sixers-Celtics averaged a Nielsen-measured 1.5 and 2.62 million on NBC alone, with viewership rising to 3.2 million including a Spanish-language audience on Telemundo and streaming audience measured by Adobe Analytics.
It was also the only one of those broadcast TV windows to decline from last year, dropping 11% from Warriors-Sixers on the same weekend last year — a closer game, but also one that featured a 20-38 Philadelphia team.
By comparison, Spurs-Knicks increased 9% from Nuggets-Celtics last year (2.27M). (ABC carried only one game on the equivalent day last year due to the Academy Awards.) And on both a Nielsen-only and combined basis, “Sunday Night Basketball” soared past last year’s equivalent ESPN windows, Thunder-Spurs (1.19M) and Timberwolves-Suns (1.09M).
In other NBA action, Friday’s Nuggets-Thunder game averaged a 1.0 and 1.80 million on ESPN, preceded by Cavaliers-Pistons at a 0.8 and 1.54 million — both down from last year’s pairings of Clippers-Lakers (1.89M) and Cavaliers-Celtics (1.81M). Last Wednesday, Thunder-Pistons drew a 0.9 and 1.49 million, leading into Celtics-Nuggets at a 0.9 and 1.53 million — both up sharply from last year’s equivalent doubleheader of Sixers-Knicks (1.0M) and Spurs-Rockets (880K).
