The Numbers Are In And Celtics/Lakers Produced The Most Watched NBA Regular Season Game In The Last 7 Years

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

Wahhhhh the NBA is dying! Wahhhhh the TV ratings! Wahhhhh teams shoot too many 3s! Wahhhhhhhhhh!

That was the narrative you couldn't get away from for a big part of the NBA season this year. For some reason people are obsessed with TV ratings and then using those ratings to determine if the product stinks or not. This has always been very confusing to me because last time I checked the NFL's ratings have never been better and the majority of those games every weekend are legitimately an unwatchable product. I dare anyone to tell me the Patriots' season was a good on the field product, despite the ratings being through the roof.

Add in the streaming aspect, the fact that League Pass isn't even considered in those numbers, how hard it is to watch games etc, the idea that the NBA was dying because of "TV ratings" despite ya know, signing a new $76B TV deal always seemed a little fishy to me.

Now, why am I bringing this up as someone who doesn't really put stock into TV ratings? Simple. I can now use them to push my agenda duh. 

Lakers-Celtics averaged 4.61 million viewers on NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC, making it the most-watched regular season game in seven years (excluding Christmas Day) and up 92% vs. the comparable window. The game peaked at 5.3 million viewers and was the most-watched program in primetime on Saturday.

Crazy that many people all tuned in to watch Luka get the belt (again), but this also isn't that surprising. 

It was a MASSIVE game for a reason. Celtics/Lakers will always matter more, Luka's first game against the Champs this season, a rematch after the Lakers blew the Celtics out in their first meeting, the Lakers had won 8 in a row heading into it, the list goes on and on.

Turns out, the NBA isn't dead! Imagine that!

That's not my biggest takeaway though. No shit, people tuned into this game. I'm going to need you to think bigger here, and what it could mean for the immediate future.

It's not exactly a stretch that some people feel something was a little fishy when it came to the Luka Doncic Trade. The whole situation even a month later still makes no goddamn sense. Some people think this was directed by the league, some people think this was Nico doing his buddy a favor, well what if it's all of those things?

I mean think about it. You don't think Adam Silver is looking at those figures with a gigantic erection?? You could make the case his plan is unfolding perfectly. The ratings blew doors, the Lakers turned around their season and dominated the national headlines, outside of the Mavs and their fanbase, every aspect of that trade has been a homerun for the league.

Which brings me to my next point. With those types of ratings, with how the game went, you have to wonder if Adam Silver might decide to do his best to find a way to get this to be the Finals matchup. All we heard these last two seasons is how low rated the Finals were, how boring they were (very wrong) etc. How do you solve that? Give us Celtics/Lakers. The proof is in the pudding. I think most fanbases in the West were already a little concerned about the Laker's privilege now that they revamped their roster and what that could mean for their playoff path, but now after seeing how successful just one game in early March did in terms of ratings, is it a stretch to think the league might prefer this matchup?

Again, if you subscribe to the idea of there being some fishy business going on in the Luka Trade, I'm not sounding so crazy am I. At the end of the day, the NBA is an entertainment business, and sorry, no possible matchup gives the league and the Finals more juice than Celtics/Lakers. It's legitimately been that way since the 1950s. 

There's obviously a lot of basketball to be played between now and June, but all I'm saying is don't rule this out. Now that the numbers are in and the NBA got a taste of what this new look rivalry might be able to do for them from a business perspective, don't be surprised if we see it in June.