So depleted that Dennis Schröder is being featured in network promos, the Lakers nonetheless remain the biggest draw in the NBA.
The shorthanded Lakers’ surprising rout of the Nets averaged a 1.2 rating and 2.02 million viewers on ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime last weekend, the league’s largest audience — excluding the All-Star Game — since February 21 (Celtics-Pelicans: 1.4, 2.26M). The team’s subsequent national TV appearance against the Celtics scored 1.14 million viewers on TNT Thursday night, the network’s most-watched game in more than a month (3/11 Warriors-Clippers: 1.25M).
Since LeBron James suffered a high ankle sprain on March 20, the Lakers have played in four of the five most-watched NBA games. The only exception was a matchup of the Jazz and Suns, the teams with the two best records in the NBA, on April 7 (1.16M). Another Suns game, against the Clippers on TNT April 8, ranks just outside the top five (1.13M).
As one would expect, the Lakers are still less of a draw than when they had James and Anthony Davis in the line-up. The team’s four least-watched games this season have come since James’ injury. That includes Thursday’s game against the Celtics and an NBA Finals rematch against Miami the previous week that had just 999,000.
Far better numbers could have been expected if not for the injuries, and not just the ones afflicting the Lakers. Even so, Lakers-Nets last Saturday — absent James, Davis and the Nets’ James Harden, with Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving ejected and Kevin Durant on a minutes restriction — still ranks among the top fifteen games all season. The Lakers have played in six of the top 15, more than any other team.
In other action, ESPN averaged 1.10 million for Nets-Sixers and 942,000 for the Mavericks-Grizzlies on Wednesday, plus 1.05 million for Nuggets-Warriors and 853,000 for Sixers-Mavericks on Monday. TNT failed to crack the 800,000 mark for Bucks-Hawks on Thursday (762K) and its Tuesday doubleheader of Celtics-Blazers (784K) and Clippers-Pacers (656K).
There were no comparable games at the same point last year, when the league was on hiatus, or in 2019 — when the season had already ended.
Most-watched NBA games since LeBron James’ injury
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 4.9, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16]
