Television ratings for the NBA play-in tournament have been at an all-time high, and not just because LeBron James was in it.
Though that probably didn’t hurt.
But no matter how you spin it, the league’s popular pre-playoff tourney is drawing plenty of eyeballs.
As relayed by Mike McCarthy of Front Office Sports, ESPN’s play-in doubleheader on Wednesday (Bulls-Raptors and Thunder-Pelicans) was up 14 percent in viewership from last year.
The Bulls’ win over the Raptors was up 10 percent from the comparable game last year. with an average of 2.3 million viewers.
Topping that was the Thunder’s victory over the Pelicans, which averaged 2.9 million views, up a whopping 17 percent from 2022. It was also the most-matched play-in game between the Nos. 9 and 10 seeds since the tourney began in 2021.
Meanwhile, the game involving James did indeed take the ratings cake, as the Lakers’ overtime win against the Timberwolves on TNT drew 3.5 million viewers, via Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch. That was a 29 percent over the West’s Nos. 8-9 game last season.
As McCarthy noted, the play-in tournament has already drawn four of the league’s 10 largest cable audiences of the season.
The NBA Playoffs tip off Saturday with four games, followed by another four on Sunday. We have the complete schedule right here.
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