I’ve Fixed the NBA

It is no secret that the NBA is struggling to attract viewers and this year’s product being put out on the court is not up to the standard the fans expect. Viewership is down 28% this year with both games on ESPN and TNT underperforming with the get in price for the NBA cup in Vegas sitting at a shocking 35 dollars as teams like the Knicks and Golden State Warriors failed to advance. With the league failing to perform and this dip in attendance looking more like a trend than an outlier I have devised a plan to save the NBA and bring it back to its glory days.

Highlight the young stars more

The NBA seems content to run the Green Bay power sweep and keep force feeding Lebron and company down our throats as the Lakers lead the way in nationally televised games with 29! This is a team that hovers around .500 and may or may not even have their stars playing. Anthony Davis has been injury prone his entire career and Lebron is turning 40 next month. The Celtics have the second most nationally televised games but for some reason the NBA refuses to capitalize on their young core but instead incites on insulting Tatum and angering Brown. Rounding out the top three is the Golden State Warriors as the NBA will make us watch an aging Steph carry an uninspiring roster through the season instead of giving us more games featuring Anthony Edwards. When looking at that list a major factor is missing, young talent! The NBA has superstars in Wemby, Edwards, Morant, Alexander, Paulo, etc yet the NBA refuses to give these players their due and embrace them on the national stage. Paulo was playing at an all-star level prior to his injury but the Magic only have 5 national games, OKC was the number one team in the west with their young core and they half as many games as the Lakers. Even Cade Cunningham is playing great basketball but no one will see it or hear about it. The first thing the NBA needs to do is acknowledge their stars are old and embrace their young talent.

Embrace College Basketball

A clip that has stuck in my head for years is CJ McCollum just mocking the NCAA stating that the product is bad and that college basketball is not entertaining. Fast forward to 2024 and college basketball is by far the better product with the NBA reduced to teams shooting 75 threes a game and no one playing defense. The NBA needs to embrace the NCAA and highlight potential rivalries like NFL teammates do. Taking the necessary steps to embrace the fans found at the college level may assist in bringing in a potential fan base to the NBA.

Move the 3-point line, change fouls

As previously mentioned there has been games this year were teams have shot 75 threes and created a game that looks more like a rec league team who is too tired to do anything but jog down court and throw up a three. Watching some of the greatest athletes in sports refuse to do anything but shoot deep threes has ruined the entertainment value in the regular season. Playing defense has also become impossible where flopping has become an epidemic that makes COVID look like child’s play. These combined have created a terrible product that has only gotten worse each year. The NBA needs to move the three point line back to devalue the three point shot attempt and force teams to actually work for a decent shot and create an offense that looks like basketball. They also need to allow defense to be played. It is ok to allow some level of physicality to occur and players need to be punished for egregious flops to eliminate that from the game. This will help clean up the game and improve the product on the floor.

Stop lecturing the fans

When fans complain and critique the product on the floor don’t use your platform to lecture us saying we don’t know basketball and need to shut-up. JJ Reddick is a great example of this as he complained how him trying to educate the fans on basketball goes unviewed and that fans don’t want to learn. WHO CARES IF THIS IS TRUE. Fans just want an entertaining product so excuse us for not caring about advanced analytics and breaking down why shooting 75 threes a game is actually smart basketball. IT STINKS. Instead of calling the fans dumb take the necessary steps to make the product better for everyone else. This highlights the issues within the league as it appears they often look down on the fans instead of valuing their opinions.

Blake Griffen

Not 100% sure what this looks like yet, but he is entertaining and needs to be involved in the league somehow.

Change the Schedule

The NBA needs to begin on Christmas. The in-season tournament is already boring as no-one seemed to care about it year two of its existence.  The NBA needs to understand what the rest of the country already does, the fall is for football. Feast week for college basketball makes a brief appearance and many programs already have a loyal enough fan base where they don’t need to worry but aside from that no other sport should even try and compete. The NBA pushing back their season to start on Christmas will also shorten the number of games played providing more meaning to each game and addressing the load management issues that occur. I understand money is the root of all this but long term this will be beneficial for the NBA.

Coaches can talk about whatever they want, but people have the right to not care

This is a touchy area to discuss but it also plays a role in some dislike around the NBA. Two key figures come to mind Greg Popovich and Steve Kerr that often abuse this issue. I respect a coach’s right to air their opinion out and use their “platform” to state their opinion, but the reality is two things, no one wants to get lectured, and no one really cares. These moments are more of a “old man yelling at clouds” versus a respected opinion as most people mute or turn the channel when this happens. We do not need coaches to solve our social and political issues so don’t lash out ad double down when people do not care.