On a daily basis, LeBron James finds himself the subject of millions of basketball conversations. Is he the greatest player of all time? Has he changed the NBA for the better? How does he stack up against Michael Jordan as a player, marketer, or icon? While the answer to most of these questions is subjective, there is certainly math behind the answers. Some people value career points over points per game, and some people value sneakers sold over box office success.
In terms of television ratings, attendance, and overall interest in the game of basketball, the numbers show that James should not even be mentioned in the same breath as Jordan. The real question has to be, is James killing the NBA?
From 1990 to 1998, the NBA averaged 8.6 million viewers per regular season game. The NBA finals averaged 23.6 million viewers. It’s safe to say that basketball in the 90s was at the peak of its popularity. When golf saw a gigantic surge in viewers starting in 1996, there was no question that Tiger Woods was the golfer everyone was tuning in to see. What basketball player could people have been tuning in to watch in the 1990s?
NBA regular season and Finals matchups have seen a steady decline since 2003. The year that King James entered the league, the NBA’s regular season games averaged 4.5 million viewers per game, and 9.9 million people tuned in to see the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals. From 2002 to present, the NBA regular season has averaged 3.59 million viewers, and the Finals have averaged 14.5 million.
2025 was one of the worst years for viewership in NBA history, with the league averaging a paltry 2.4 million viewers per game and 10.2 million viewers per Finals game. Some have suggested the poor Finals numbers are attributed to small-market teams, but the numbers have declined each of the last four seasons. More people watched the Masters this year (12.7 million on Sunday) than the NBA finals, and Tiger wasn’t even in the field.
What could have happened in 2003 that caused people to slowly but consistently stop watching the NBA every year? Who was the number one pick in the draft that year, and would it be fair to blame him for destroying the popularity of the game and alienating tens of millions of viewers?
There has been a rise in the popularity of the NFL that coincides with the decrease in NBA popularity. It’s impossible not to wonder, though, why people refused to switch off NBA games in favor of the NFL when Jordan was playing, but they have no problem doing it when James is playing. The Chosen One has played in 10 NBA finals, which have averaged 16.2 million viewers. Jordan played in six, averaging 25.2 million.
Maybe folks believe in coincidence and chance, but the height of NBA popularity, who was the best player in the league, and who has been the best player during the hemorrhage of fans to other sports (including GOLF!)? The NBA is on life support, and that’s not up for debate. Is LeBron James the one holding a pillow over it’s face?
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