The Los Angeles Lakers’ shock trade deadline acquisition of star forward Luka Dončić continues to pay dividends for the NBA and its broadcast partners.
Last weekend’s NBA Saturday Primetime slot saw the Lakers travel to Boston for a marquee clash against the rival Celtics, and according to ESPN, ABC’s broadcast of Boston’s win pulled in the highest non-Christmas Day regular season audience in seven years.
The game averaged 4.61 million viewers and peaked at 5.3 million viewers as Dončić and LeBron James turned a 20-point fourth quarter deficit into a close game in the final moments. It was up 92% from the same window in 2024, when the Phoenix Suns hosted the Celtics and drew 2.4 million viewers on ABC.
Early-season panic about NBA viewership has given way to a reality that ratings are mostly even from 2024. Los Angeles and Boston continue to be massive draws for the league, especially as the Celtics look to defend their championship while Dončić and James find their groove in Tinseltown.
On Christmas Day, the Celtics dragged a matchup with the dismal Philadelphia 76ers to more than 5 million viewers, up 3% year over year. A vintage duel between James and Steph Curry in San Francisco averaged 7.8 million viewers.
Given the NBA is heading into a new broadcast rights environment in the fall and continues to develop answers for its regular-season viewership woes, this number will be received ecstatically at the league office. It helps to have games on a broadcast network like ABC, and Nielsen’s never-ending expansion with out-of-home viewing continues to inflate viewership numbers.
Still, anyone who hoped the arrival of Dončić in the league’s premier market with the Lakers would bolster attention and engagement has to be feeling great right now.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.