We’re back with Tuesday Teasings and some … interesting … information about the television ratings for the NBA Finals. Game 1 had the lowest number of viewers in the United States since Game 1 of the 2021 Finals. Those 2021 ratings picked up in the end to the point the series average was slightly better, that had a lot to do with the coronation of Giannis Antetokounmpo and his international appeal more than anything.

As we have noted, this year’s Indiana Pacers (from the No. 25 market) and Oklahoma City Thunder (from the No. 47 market) have no such international intrigue. Antetokounmpo played for the Milwaukee Bucks, themselves not playing in a significant TV market (ranked just 38th), and the opponent—the Phoenix Suns, playing in the 12th-largest market—was favored. The Bucks lost the two first games on the road, as well.

Then they recovered to win four straight and claim their first NBA title since 1971 in the process. We don’t have numbers yet for Game 2 of this year’s matchup, but after Indiana pulled off another ridiculous comeback in Game 1, they were hammered in Game 2—and they are 5.5-point underdogs in Game 3 on their home court now, scheduled for tomorrow night. Sharps seem unconvinced the Pacers can do this.

The question is now whether this year’s Finals, with the small-market audiences built in, can recover like the 2021 Finals did not, in terms of an overall TV ratings average that is not disgraceful. Not counting the Covid 2020 Finals, held in the fall season up against a lot of other sports on the television, the 2021 Finals were the worst ever in terms of ratings. And 2024 was the second worst, with 2023 being the third worst.

See the pattern here? People are tired of the NBA and its junk. Part of the issue is the readily available of abundant TV options these days, of course. The top-rated Finals ever came back in 1998, and while that had Michael Jordan marching toward a second three-peat performance and imminent second retirement, it was also a different era of TV watching. Even 2022 rates out as the sixth-worst Finals, and that’s a surprise.

So, we can assume the Finals ratings overall in the end will be somewhere near the bottom of these rankings. It may yet turn out to be worse than the 2021 Finals, in terms of ratings average per game (5.2 percent of TV households watching) and average viewers per game (9.91M). Game 1 this year garnered just a 4.7 rating and 8.91M viewers—the smallest Game 1 viewership ever, really. It’s to be expected, as we noted.

With so many duds this decade so far for TV ratings, we wonder what the NBA will come up with for 2026.