The Oklahoma City Thunder averaged 1.8 million viewers this season, according to Nielsen, a figure that rivals or exceeds the ratings for many nationally televised NBA games and comes as many NBA teams look for new local TV homes.
The entire 2025-26 NBA regular season averaged 1.78 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video.
Nielsen revealed the data in its Spring 2026 Tops of Sports report. The report found that the Thunder lead team viewership, followed by the Lakers, Knicks, Rockets, Nuggets, Spurs, Celtics, Mavericks, Warriors, and Cavaliers. Specific viewership for other teams was not immediately available.
Overall, according to Nielsen Station Index data published by Sportico, local NBA viewership was flat compared to 2024-25. However, streaming viewership increased significantly, with average minutes streamed up 37% compared to 2024-25.
Compared to last year, Sportico data says the biggest local viewership increases were for the Nuggets, Pistons, 76ers, Suns, and Knicks.
NBA teams are facing some interesting near-term questions regarding local TV rights. Long term, the NBA is reportedly looking to set up a lucrative “streaming RSN” to centralize rights. But the streaming RSN is unlikely to be ready until the 2027-28 season.
The FanDuel Sports Network RSNs, which have been connected to local NBA rights since the Prime Sports days in the 1980s, are in the process of shutting down. The Thunder, Spurs, and Cavaliers, which appeared on Nielsen’s top 10 list, are all former FanDuel Sports Network teams that are now in the market for new local television homes.
With an average viewership of 1.8 million, which beats even some nationally televised games on ESPN and Prime Video, the Thunder’s local TV rights could be especially lucrative.
It looked for a while that Fubo, which had been seen as a leading bidder, was in the driver’s seat for many of these short-term rights, but the streamer recently announced it would drop its bid. That leaves streamers like DAZN and Victory+, and local over-the-air station groups as the main bidders for these local rights.
However, many of these streamers are looking for long-term guarantees, which working with individual teams cannot provide them. Teams are selling these short-term local rights, while the league will sell the streaming RSN. That could limit the value of these short-term rights for teams.
The bidders for these rights will be there even if teams are not averaging 1.8 million viewers, as the Thunder are. The question for teams will be how much money they can get from a short-term arrangement. That could make for some interesting temporary partners for next year.
About Manny Soloway
Manny Soloway is a Iowa based writer focusing on TV ratings. He is also the founder of the TV Media Blog substack.