Perhaps even more surprising than the Dallas Mavericks winning the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft despite having just a 1.8% chance of winning the lottery, was the decades-low audience the event drew on television.
According the Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, Monday’s NBA Draft Lottery averaged just 1.88 million viewers on ESPN prior to Game 4 of the Boston Celtics-New York Knicks series. That figure marks a decline of 6% versus last year’s lottery, which averaged 2.01 million viewers in a Sunday afternoon window on ABC leading into a Knicks-Pacers game.
Based on data published by Sports Business Journal, Monday’s lottery was the least-watched since at least 2006, despite fanbases clamoring for the first pick to select a generational prospect in Duke’s Cooper Flagg. In previous years with a superstar prospect up for grabs, the NBA Draft Lottery has typically seen a viewership bump. In 2023, when Victor Wembanyama was the presumptive No. 1 pick, the lottery averaged 3.24 million viewers. In 2019, the Zion Williamson year, 4.43 million viewers turned on the draft lottery.
Clearly, Flagg did not have the same pull, though, that should not be a tell-all indicator for his ability to capture audience when he actually takes the court next fall.
It should be noted, the NBA Draft Lottery had traditionally been conducted at 8 or 8:30 p.m. ET prior to a weeknight Conference Finals game in year’s past, which lends itself to larger audiences than the 7 p.m. ET window this year.
Interestingly, despite hitting a new low for the lottery, Game 4 of Celtics-Knicks drew a very healthy number. The Knicks’ win averaged 6.13 million viewers on ESPN, up 50% versus last year’s comparable game and the second-largest cable audience of the playoffs, per Lewis.