For the first time since 1999, the New York Knicks are headed to the NBA Finals.
The hysteria already spread to the streets of New York City on Monday night as Knicks fans lost their minds celebrating an official return to glory. And with arguably the NBA’s most iconic team competing for the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time in 27 years, ABC/ESPN should be in for a huge ratings windfall, especially compared to last year’s small-market affair.
Last year’s NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers averaged 10.3 million viewers across seven games, a figure that was helped significantly by the series going the distance. But even with the help of a Game 7, the 2025 NBA Finals were still the least-watched since Bucks-Suns in 2021, and, based off household rating, which definitionally is not impacted by the many Nielsen methodological changes to the top-line viewership figure, was the third-least-watched NBA Finals series since the Nielsen PPM era began in 1974.
It’s safe to say that won’t happen this year. No matter if the Knicks get the Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs, this year’s NBA Finals is shaping up to be a viewership bonanza.
At risk of stating the obvious, brand-name teams like the Knicks historically drive championship viewership across all sports. Look no further than baseball, where three of the four most-watched World Series of the past decade have featured the Los Angeles Dodgers. The lone exception? The Cubs breaking the Curse of the Billy Goat in 2016.
Now, the Knicks are not experiencing a Billy Goat-level championship drought, but they’re also not that far off. The last time the Knicks won an NBA title was in 1973, and that combination of storied franchise and title drought is a rarity that tends to attract major television audiences.
Combine that with their opponent — either a Spurs team that, traditionally, has been a ratings drag but is the complete opposite with otherworldly talent Victor Wembanyama on the roster, or the defending-champion Thunder that increasingly seem like a great hate watch — and this year’s Finals are shaping up to be a huge viewership attraction.
The NBA Finals haven’t eclipsed the 15 million viewer threshold yet this decade after surpassing that mark every single year throughout the 2010s. The Knicks’ return gives the league a fighting chance to buck that trend, though it could still be an uphill battle to get there.
The 2010s were defined by dynasties in the NBA. The Big Three-era Miami Heat in the early part of the decade, followed by four consecutive matchups between LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors from 2015 to 2018, provided easy-to-follow storylines for casual NBA fans. Everyone knew exactly what they were getting when they turned on Cavs-Warriors. The narratives were already written.
This year, that won’t be the case. America knows the Knicks as a brand, and maybe even knows it has been over five decades since they’ve won a title. But are Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns household names? For basketball fans, yes. But they’re not celebrities on the same level as LeBron and Steph.
One factor that could help offset the lack of name recognition on the court are the star-studded lineup of fans bound to sit courtside at Madison Square Garden. Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, Tracy Morgan, Ben Stiller, the list goes on. The A-list celebrities give this series a crossover appeal for pop culture aficionados that a matchup like last year’s Thunder-Pacers series simply lacked.
ABC/ESPN could sure use a lift; the network has been quite unlucky so far during the conference finals in both the NBA and NHL. Obviously, the Knicks swept the Cavaliers in their series, but ESPN’s other conference final, Avalanche-Golden Knights, could also end in a sweep on Tuesday night. Networks value series length over practically anything else when it comes to postseasons in the NBA, NHL, and MLB. A viewership lift from the Knicks could help ESPN rebound from two noncompetitive series.
The only question now is how much juice will the Knicks provide?
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.