1). No defense. 2). Everyone chucks up 3s. 3). Refs call everything a foul. 4). Load management/entitled players who sit out multiple games. 5). Can’t watch games free anymore. You need to have Hulu, Prime, League pass etc. It’s not worth it anymore. Even to go see games are mad expensive.
Why isn't anyone mentioning how a 48 minute game is dragged out to 3 hours after all the time outs and advertising stoppages. The NBA made their product unwatchable.
Dude, I found out recently they play commercials on part of the screen while players are shooting FTs.... So glad I haven't watched a full game in several yrs 🥱
It's actually quite simple. We can watch the short 2 min recap or the 15 min full length. Then after they made it so hard to watch your local teams you lost interest. The mavs just gave us local games free and now my kids actually watch it with me. Going to ballys sports killed the years my oldest kid would have become a fan
Its just kind of a boring sport to watch with how long a game is dragged out. A 50 minute game becomes hours, there's literally more commercials than basketball
- No defense - Bad refereeing - No emotion, taunting, star vs. star matchups, and again because of bad refereeing - NBA's aggressive management of League Pass and pricing I canceled my subscription at the end of the season. They revoked my playoff access, which I had already paid for, and then tried to charge me for a new subscription month later. i will never try this again.
HUGE NBA fan 1975 to 1999....held season tickets for almost a decade.....interest began to wane circa 2004 and I haven't watched ANY NBA game since 2009......assuming it's not any better today since 2009.
@@zell75013 1. people didn’t play good defense before, they just played bad offense back in the 80s and 90s 2. refereeing is more accurate than it ever has been. if you have problems with like the rules, that’s a different issue. 3. that’s because the nba got too corporate. people clutched their pearls about the malice at the palace and this is the result. 4. i got a yearly subscription to league pass on black friday for $50 for the year. that’s less than a dollar a game (even if you only watch one team.)
I agree with everything you said but defense. You’re gonna tell me teams like Oklahoma City, Houston, Boston, GSW, Cavs, wolves aren’t playing defense.
Was just about to comment this. I like the Bucks and Warriors, and it genuinely feels like you need like 10 subscriptions to watch the games. TNT, ABC, ESPN, and NBATV. Just leave it at them
Literally this. I live in LA and of course my favorite team is the Lakers. I NEED to have Spectrum cable to watch home games. It's fucking stupid and that exclusivity contract has to be terminated ASA-fucking-P. Spectrum is singlehandedly killing Laker viewership
This was us in phx, but the owner has chose to let the Suns games to be broadcasted on local TV, obviously there are a handful of games that we miss but for the most part it's there.
Personally, i think you missed the most important reason. The blantant disregard for the rules of basketball. Basketball and its rules have been established for over 100 years. Every kid learns the rules through either rec leagues or through gym class. But the NBA doesn't doesnt follow them, especially traveling and carrying. College basketball continues to grow in popularity because we are watching elite athletes do amazing things on the court while following the rules everyone knows. The NBA has turned themselves into a league of Harlem Globetrotters, fun for a few minutes but not to be taken seriously because you aren't actually watching basketball but a fake imitation of the game.
It’s a microcosm of the ‘progressive’ mindset the league has adapted. No self responsibility, no regard for history, just riding the wave of the new trendy woke thing
@@ryan_at_work I think he actually means the travelling rule, but yes ball handling and dribbling are part of that. Essentially the way the rule was first used and originally implemented, even by the NBA, is NOT how the rule works today in the NBA 😂. Unfortunately he wasn't far off the mark, the NBA of today is not too far off the Harlem Globetrotters of the 60s 😂.
sorry gramps. Your complaints about travelling and carrying is overblown. Maybe ur just salty because a bum like Kuzma can 1 v 15, blindfolded with one hand tied to opposite foot, ez diff smoke your favorite 90s team, lol.
As a Brit I’ll give my 2 cents on this. I’ve tried to watch both the NBA and NFL (never tried watching MBL). The thing for me with your sports is the commercial stoppages. In the U.K. our football premier league has 45 mins each half and it’s completely uninterrupted - no commercials at all. We get them at half time and that’s it. It makes a huge difference.
British people i have a simple advice for you, don't ever compare yourself to Americans. Just because you speak the same language doesn't mean you're the same people. That's the problem with you folks over there always putting your two cents in on American affairs. I say stop that nobody cares about your clueless opinions.
When Artest went into the crowd, the NBA said, "We're done with any physicality. Its now ballet. No hard play, no hard fouls, no D, no aggression of any kind." That was 2004.
The ratings are primarily down because the NBA got political. Me and many others quit watching when the NBA had BLM support on the court. It's that simple. We're sick of LeBron, sick of political messages, and we simply never came back to watching the NBA after this.
Im from Europe im not a big basketball watcher but when i do watch the difference between a normal game and a playoff game is crazy in playoffs they doubleteam and try block in normal games there just like go try score i guess.
It's always been like that for the most part, it's why i watch college ball instead but even college bball is starting to trend towards that direction.
Nah you’re wrong players actually want to play defense Open your eyes they can’t tho refs call everything single thing !!
4 วันที่ผ่านมา +17
The inmates now run the asylum. Players pick coaches. Player refusing to play for selfish reasons. Forcing their way off teams despite being under contract. Failed "super teams." All offence no defense. Players not caring about the team, city or fans that buy tickets. The product is no longer team basketball, The product is now selfishness. What's wrong? Isn't that what you all wanted..."practice ya'all takin' about practice man"
One of my best friends is a bulls fan. I asked him why he's a bulls fan (he's lived in Georgia his whole life). He told me that his dad was a bulls fan and took him to a bulls hawks game in the 90s for his birthday. He got to see Jordan, Rodman, and Pippen play and has been a die hard fan ever since. His father died a few years later and he said it's his favorite memory with his dad. Imagine if his dad took him to that game and Jordan was load managing, and Pippen and Rodman fouled out. That's a huge part of the problem rn.
@BossItUp911 adopting your father's/family's favorite team cannot be considered bandwagon riding, otherwise basically everyone is doing so. Maybe their dad could be called a bandwagon rider. I grew up a Cowboys and San Antonio Spurs fan, because they were my dad's teams. Started watching after the Cowboy's 90's success, but right at the start of the Spurs 5 championships. My Dad is from Central Texas though, and I spent a good portion of my life there too, maybe being local is what makes the difference to you? I kinda get that, but still think almost everyone inherits their favorite teams from the people around them when they start watching, and so that simply can't be called bandwagonning. I stopped watching sports as my favorite players from those teams retired, and I realized I was spending way too much time and especially mental energy on something that gave me very little to nothing in return. Anywho,
Reason the nba is declining in viewership 1. Defense-Feels like defence is slowly fumbling. 2. Physicality- I ain’t seeing enough bumps 3.Rivalries- No tension. Only if Kevin Durant gave it 3 more years.😢 4.Players who sit out- Most of the time nothing is really wrong they just being lazy. 5. Refs- If you breathe next to a ref you’ll be fined 10k. They also need to purchase 🕶️ 6.Ads-😢😢😢😢😢😢 7. Swagger- Allen iverson😢 8.Trying to watch a game- Why does trying to find a game to watch with the whole legume pass thing 9.LeBrons gonna retire 10. All star break- We come here to watch the best players in the league vs each other an I have to set back and watch hot potato without the other team doing anything. Dunk contest is becoming repetitive. WTH was the skills contest 11. I dont even know
In what way ? I’m not really into all that betting/gambling, but wouldn’t an increase in gambling on games mean more people would want to watch NBA to see if their picks win ?
@@hansjuker8296Js don’t own the NFL lmfao. Everything rich people do you blame it on the Js so you can say your own race isn’t responsible for anything ever
1:- Soft Commissioner who allows players to do anything they like. 2:- Soft Players. 3:- Soft referees told to stop anything so much as a nasty look. 4:- When players aren't soft they are treated like kids in the school playground and told to stop being a bad boy. 5:- No defence. 6:- Load management. 7:- Travelling. 8:- Too many players not caring about the regular season. 9:- Too much reliance on three pointers. 10:- Too much player empowerment. 11:- Guaranteed contracts. 12:- Rookies coming into the league already loaded with large sponsorships, ie, lack of motivation. 13:- Too many players concerned with social media, youtube and showing off. Having watched the NBA since the 90's I am truly shocked how bad it has gotten, I really cannot see how it will ever get better as long as the league continues to make more and more money.
That's the explinatuon right there. As a 90s og, your stuck in the past, and coping knowing none of the legends and plumbers you grew ip watching when you were 13 would make it in today's nba. Maybe a select few. Any nba team is a top seed in the 90s. Prove me wrong. No defense? Not being able to hand check and force the defender where you want them to go is no defense? How, since now you have to actually move your feet and have quick reaction time to stay in front of the offensive player? No hand checking=no defense. Got it. Is it no defense because plauers don't knock you out of the air mid layup and on to the ground when you try to score in the paint? Is it nod defense because plauers don't try to kill a mf when they realize they can't guard him with actual honest defense? No dirty and or hard fouls=no defense. Got it. Yall oldheads killing me woth this bs. And don't blame 3s for the evolution of the game, none of your legend plumbers cpuld shoot like that, doesn't mean the 3 ruined the game. Your age catching up to u OG
I still can't believe the NBA got the recent tv contract. It will be there last one. With so many games on apps, the viewership will not improve. I grew up in the 80s with the Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, and Jordan's Bulls. I can't watch the NBA anymore. Just not the same.
@@animecity9678So why are younger fans not tuning in like old heads then? Because I know a lot of them that are watching other sports because they tell me the game sucks. So what they?
Because 97% of them dont even look like they want to be out there. Like they're being bothered. I'm not even a big basketball fan and watching grown men out there with no pride and no soul in their craft isn't going to capture me as one. They just don't care. Guess you can say they sold out.
In my opinion the biggest reason why the league is dying is because, the league is just boring as hell. There is no more variety in the nba anymore. Every team just plays pace and space and hunt 3s all day. There is no inside outside, there is no post play, there are no set plays for easy baskets, and there isn't any defensive oriented teams. The league is now just plain boring to watch.
Basketball is a niche sport in my opinion, I tried to get into and it just lacks so many of the things I like. There's no fights like hockey, no ultra fast sprints like football, no hard checks-tackles. Roster construction is meh, the strategies and stats don't feel particularly interesting.(EDIT: I'm sure someone will try to correct me, my point is this is how I as the customer feel) The spectacle is the social media spectacle and the fact they're so tall and fast/powerful. Basketball is a gym class sport IMO, like I absolutely love shooting hoops. It was my favorite sport in school etc. But when you subtract speed/size there's nothing particularly unique about the stars and myself. Meanwhile Football/Hockey is just on another level.I can barely skate, barely catch a football etc. I know I'm bashing basketball, I think it's a great sport to play, I just think it has a much lower ceiling than other sports. So much of the game is getting 2-3 superstar players on your team and watching them My main point is that its current popularity is based it being a fad. In my opinion it has twice as many fans as it should have. Basketball isn't failing as a sport, it has a healthy share of the sports market with solid dedicated fans,. Once it gets back to a sustainable level of popularity it should hold strong.
That is with every era. Back in late 80s and early 90s the only important player was the center/post player. and seeing you say that there are no set plays anymore proofs that you're the most casual watcher there is
You are spot on. Game is very athletic, but no drama. No sense that defense can affect the other team. Almost like watching a shooting contest and not a competitive game.
It’s not just the NBA, It’s damn near all forms of modern entertainment in America. Most movies that come out now are just lazy sequels or apart of bigger franchises. We aren’t getting many ground breaking IPs Sports aren’t played with the same love and passion. It’s all about putting the least amount of effort to get the most amount of money.
@@ricardomondragon7320 Or some generic modern BS... Copy paste mentality. Pop music is and always was all about making money but it used to be much more diverse and creative.
I don't mind the zero step and the carry as long as they bring back hand shakes. Just imagine a dribble god and a glove going at it on iso. Now that's something. Plus, it backfired that the league balanced the game out. Since 2019, no franchise ever won 2 rings (TOR, LAL, MIL, GSW, DEN, BOS) While balancing the game out improves competition, it eliminates dynasties and rivalries. Nobody are true rivals today. Fans always wanna see a hero (Curry) win and they also wanna see a villain (LeBron) lose. MJ was seen as a hero now but he was the main villain in the 90's because he's whooping everyone's asses. They wanted to see MJ lose
It's because they're so easy to shoot. Dunking just makes it way more fun to watch. Refs call everything a foul to the point where it's no entertainment of fighting or drama it's dumb. There's no arguments of people fighting to make it enjoyable or nothing. And actual good favorite players always get ejected.
@@ThePhulosopher Nobody goes hard for rebounds and they just regularly shoot them back to back. It takes no athleticism to shoot and the 'shooters' typically just stand around waiting for a pass. Compared to a team to wants to constantly take it to the hoop, the games are just flat boring.
@@ThePhulosopher it’s because the players of today are far better in every regard. So oldheads who are salty that there era was filled with a bunch of scrubs. Have to find any way possible, no matter how illogical it is, to hate on the new generation, so they can get some sort of feeling that their generation was good at basketball. When in reality they weren’t. These same people accept and realize the fact that the players of the 90s where FAR better than the players of the 60s. They just don’t want to accept that the players now are FAR better than the players of the 90s they grew up watching. They do everything in their power to downplay this generation of basketball
@@will-zj5gq its been like this since the 90s. year after year we blame bad officiating. its not the ref its the players entitlement and not competing with each other anymore but playing with each other
Every since Michael Jordan's "last shot" in 98, the NBA has never been the same again. Also the NBA needs to push its popular teams...Bulls, Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, Pistons, Suns, Rockets, Hornets back to the top. Those areas have big fan bases especially the Chicago Bulls. When Derrick Rose and the Bulls made that run in the early 2000's people were glad to see the Bulls back on top. MJ made that franchise a house hold name and you really can't go anywhere without seeing someone with a Bulls hat on.
it's dying because everyone can see that most of the players aren't putting out maximum effort. there is very little defense and everyone is just jacking up 3 pointers. it's like they're just going out there and having a pregame shoot around. & these guys get paid way too much to only play 50-55 games out of a 82 game season. the biggest story this season was bronny james playing with his dad and bronny isn't even close to a NBA caliber player. the whole NBA has turned into a giant circus and everyone can see it.
I have only one reason I don't watch like I used too .I love the game but I've been watching basketball for over 60 years ,but I do watch all of my hometown Houston Rockets games
Fans are employing "load management" by not caring about a game unless it is a Playoff Game 7 or NBA Finals. Following the example of the players, who also don't care. 💰
The ratings are primarily down because the NBA got political. Me and many others quit watching when the NBA had BLM support on the court. It's that simple. We're tired of LeBron and the political messages, and we simply never came back to watching the NBA after this.
For real though. I'm pretty stunned that the video and comments seem to completely ignore the fact that there are only maybe 4 serious contending teams in a given year sometimes only two. That means the average regular season game and even the first two rounds of playoffs are just absolutely meaningless. Every other league has at least 15 fanbases whose team has at least a small chance at a ring that year.
Soft refs for soft players on a soft league. What's ruining the game is how you can waltz to the basket with a hundred dribble moves because no one can touch you, made the shot then celebrate like it is hard to do. So fuckig easy to score that missed shots are more exciting than than made ones. My local court has more defense than these posers.
Part of the fun was listening to Mark Jackson and VanGundy narrate even a dull game. They are tied to the hip to the WNBA-it's like anchor pulling them down-and the terrible-looking multi-colored courts, which make it hard on the eyes to watch, an oversaturation. Even college ball doesn't do that! and my personal favorite load management! , AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE HORENDUS OFFICIATING Peolpe shouldn't believe their lying eyes !
Good synopsis. The politics was a big one for me. Not interested in being lectured by someone that is supposed to be entertaining me. I don't care what they "think"? Another reason, not mentioned, is my favorite team is smaller market and doesn't seem likely to ever have a legit chance to win.
Wait until MLK day. How many puff pieces will they fit between games? HBCU shoutouts, black poets reading another race prose, and endless Kevin hart stuff. Enough
yeah not to sound like an old man, but these days kids are wayyy more immature than they were 30 years ago. We forget sometimes that these we're watching 20-something year olds, and they act exactly as you'd expect - they care more about social media than playing the game well
@@doctorg.k.spoderminsr.2588 okay boomer. Kids have always been immature social media and the internet just shines a brighter spotlight on it. I can vividly recall Jordan talking about how the 84 bulls team was doing cocaine in hotel rooms after the game. super mature i guess lol
The NFL used to penalize for merely spiking the ball with style, then they realized the fans like it, and now touchdowns are followed by one act plays and dance theater. That's entertainment.
Wrong. True fans watch the game FOR the game. Every single first down is now celebrated like a game winning touchdown. There is more "entertainment" now than football.
@@purplesprigsPersonally I live football more. I played basketball throughout school and never played football. NBA just isn’t the same anymore. It feels off and stale.
They banned spiking the ball after normal plays bc it's annoying af to chase down the ball between downs (totally understandable). But you're allowed to spike after a touchdown. The NBA is a joke compared to the NFL (besides the new kickoff rule, thats the dumbest thing i've ever seen).
i don't think that's all of it. we see the premier league have little loyalty to a badge sometimes and inflated salaries but they still maintain viewership because the culture is there. we need to bring that back but we can't build culture because they can't afford to watch or even go to a game lol
this is the dumbest take out there. Wdym player loyalty? What does that mean if the team can trade a player lie commodity mid game. shut up. I understand the hate for players forcing trade, but the one who finish their contracts shouldn't be looked down upon if they decide to leave a team, they are free to do so.
My list: 1. Flopping/fishing for fouls every play 2. Load management 3. Refs being too sensitive 4. Politics 5. 3 6. Unable to watch local games without buying multiple streaming sites. 7. No player loyalty (i get organizations arent loyal but perception of loyalty matters to fans because the reason NFL does so well is because you care about the Team than individual players)
are you ok with the commercials though? The non existing defenses? I ask from a european point of view. Watching NBA is unbearable. There are 3 minute stops all the time.
@@oiko2k4 those are both things we all hate over here as well, trust us. I haven’t watched the nba in a loooooong time. One thing I will say is Ant and Ja make me enjoy the game in a similar way I did pre-Bron. Dude’s the biggest reasons for the sport becoming unwatchable.
Honestly the reason why I don’t watch most of the time is because the average game isn’t that important. You can tell because when you watch the crowd is quiet and it feels like a scrimmage more than an intense game. Also watching highlights just replaces it. The NFL is more fun to actually watch live because there are big implications for almost every game.
Truth. NBA is boring. They are gonna go up and down the court and score buckets repeatedly for an hour. It's boring as all hell. Football, soccer and hockey when someone scores it's actually exciting because it doesn't always happen. Never seen a 0-0 ending basketball game.
none of that stuff matters. stop making excuses, it’s adam silver and the refs. that’s it. stop blaming other things letting adam silver and the refs off the hook. players will do whatever gives them an advantage, if the refs stop making soft play more viable the players would play tough.
@@PinoyGuitaristDad The WWE and its "Sports Entertainment" crap has done more damage than you can imagine. It has infected american professional sports like a malignant virus. The NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL are no longer the leagues they used to be. It's become style over substance, spectacle over sport.
Some additional points: - half the teams tanking every year for picks - ads, every second time you turn it on there's a cheerleader dancing or singing - game is too stop start.
The last minute of an NBA game is completely unwatchable. With all the timeouts and commercials, it turns into 45 minutes. Conversely, in hockey, the final minute is must-watch TV. One team pulls their goalie and battles like hell to set up a cycle in their opponent's zone. While the other team hangs on for dear life, doing whatever they can to block shots, putting their bodies on the line each time. And there are zero commercial breaks in the final minute! It's awesome!
Yep and there are amazing TH-camrs who will edit out all the garbage and post it within an hour of the game ending. Why should I waste my time watching it live?
@@oof8850 Dude I started that Idk how long ago, but even that has become unwatchable. It's a 3 point shootout, and everybody look like Shawn Marion when they going up for that 3pter. lol
Been a trash product since the GOATs left. Jordan, Bird, Magic, etc.... Watch some games from 88-96. Great product. Great players. This epic NBA fail been a long time coming. That's why they're so dependent on China. NFL is next hopefully. Their product is trash too. Everyone wearing shorts, 2yd passes every other play, can't hit the QB, or anyone else. Hilarious. Oh, and the ridiculous kick-off rule. All gay. It's basically a flag football league now. So sad. I gave up on the NBA when Jordan left the Bulls.
You don’t think it might have something to do with streaming outlets charging $90/month to see local games? League Pass is a pretty good deal, but you can’t get the local team you probably follow. Why do we still need the home game blackout laws-penned back in the 60s? Let’s get rid of that law so we can see all games for one reasonable price.
You think thats bad, try watching the premier league in the uk any game played at 3pm local time you cannot watch, but if your in the us or elsewhere overseas you can ...
It is because of the following reasons; 1) Referees decides the game outcome 2) On line betting is rampant 3) No more excitement on games 4) Fixed games are very visible
yes, the NBA is obviously rigged, I lose interest in watching it once and for all, since it is manipulated by living betting scoreline adjustment. this really sucks
The political issue is much worse than just alienating the other side. After a long hard day of work, I want to come home and be entertained with a basketball game. Not be lectured about how terrible we are.
Yep. Woke politics ruined basketball for me. The kneeling and refusing to play the National Anthem insulted fans who love this country. Also, I don't want a lecture on racism after games from multimillionaires, and I'm black.
Lol fr. Like back when Lebron, who's prob one of the most privileged humans on earth, lectured america about 'white privilege'.. so insulting/arrogant made me so mad
Technical fouls if someone celebrates anything has destroyed things, yes. Let the players taunt each other. Maybe they'll show some fight again. Imagine if Mutombo had been given a tech every time he did the "No no no" gesture.
It’s not the refs my friend , they are all under orders from owners of NBA, the real question is why are the owners forcing the game to be this soft? What is the hidden message ?
The teams are also much larger. If you're an NFL star, there's always 4 or 5 guys right behind trying to take your job, so you have to have a fire under your butt. Also, the game itself is violent and that draws a certain type of player to the game. Even if they're getting pennies, an mma fighter will fight with all he's got simply because that's how he's wired. Same with NFL players. @LaurenceI-ne7sl
The NBA made it clear: they're not interested in me being a fan. Made it clear over a decade ago. The NBA has been dead for years, TV contracts are all that keep them afloat.
Not enough people talking about this. The players and the league HATE US. They made it clear in 2020 that they didn't want people like me watching. So I don't watch.
An underrated reason on why the NBA is dying is because of the media. Cavs are 27-4 right now and are playing like a legit juggernaut, but they are completely ignored by all of sports media. Nobody is talking about them on ESPN or NBA TV. They just recycle talking points about the same 4-5 aging superstars playing on mid to bad teams. The league and talking heads have made no effort to move on to the next era of basketball. Other main reasons (mostly talked about in this video): - Excessive fouls / free throws at the end of games - Flopping / foul baiting being rewarded by refs - Stars sitting out of games when not even injured - NBA is a solved game, 3 pointer has made mid range pointless
The NBA has turned into analytics. Fans don't give a damn about efficiency, we care about passion. We want tension and drama, not reports of PER. The athletes are top-tier, but it seems they're just there to collect a check.
I believe the nba viewership was still very high between 2015 and 2018 with the Warriors and Cavs rivalry even with a more similar style of play compared to today. I don’t think we need to return to the 90s style of play for the viewership.
Facts! People getting tired seeing just threes and no defense been played. That inside out game was the true. Now it's outside in play. And it's boring to watch.
Have you been watching lately? The refs are allowing extremely physical play again. I watched the Jazz / Pistons game last night and it felt like a game straight out of the Bad Boys era.
It is not the technical calls that dislike the fans, it is the inconsistency of the calling. Some players (Green, James etc) get away with screaming at the refs without any repercussions, while others (like in the video Tatum, Jockik, etc) get technical calls for almost nothing.
You have no idea what's being said by these guys who are more soft-spoken. They could go up and curse the ref out quietly and call him all sorts of names. Just because Draymond and LeBron might be louder than you like doesn't mean they deserve techs more. Rondo got ejected once for calling Billy Kennedy homophobic slurs (he's gay). He didn't scream at him. He went up and called him offensive names. We didn't know until afterwards. That's much worse than a guy being vocally louder.
You make a lot of good points in this video. For me it's two things: 1) Refs. The calls are so subjective that they feel almost arbitrary and they frequently affect the outcome. 2) The players do not seem to care. In the NBA, even in the playoffs when the stakes are high, I just don't enjoy the product. It feels like I'm watching a bunch of apathetic contestants on The Ref Show. The fact that I feel this way as a 30 y/o Boston sports fan is pretty sad. If I actually cared enough to watch, I'm sure the blackouts and overwhelming amount of ads would bother me too, but I'm not even at that point.
I’m a lifelong nba fan, been watching for decades. Last few years I simply can’t figure out how and when to watch the games. It’s confusing as hell, super expensive, and no matter how much I pay and how many subscriptions I get I still get “out of your viewing area” messages for all the good games. I gave up a long time ago and just started watching highlights on TH-cam for free. It’s hilarious that the nba made it nearly impossible to watch the games then freaked out about why no one is watching. Also not including time zones of game times on the nba site doesn’t help.
Thank you finally someone is saying it. Yes some of these games are hard to watch, but I’ve found it more that it’s so hard to watch a game because of all the things we have to buy as a viewr
@@hakancarlsson2881i think a lot of people watch the free streams but that drops viewership numbers because 2000 people could be watching 1 league pass
As a lifelong nba fan, how can you support an inferior product? Even if all the games were free to watch and easily accessible, I refuse to watch this garbage
I compare David Stern to Donald Trump, dude didn't tolerate the BS and the NBA was much better under David Stern. Adam Silver allowing the inmates to run the prison and I don't mean that in a offensive way I'm just making a point.
@@TampaAries David Stern rigged games and has an entire network behind the scenes connected to the feds, fixing games and gambling to fund his, uh, "overseas friends of a particular nation". He's not a tough guy, he's a scheming rat who shouldn't be glorified because his successor is a limp wristed "overseas friend"
@@vince11harris Woke can be defined in many ways my friend. 1) the behaviour and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice. 😦 2) sarcasm, meaning you're really sleeping 💤 (the matrix) 🖥️ I'm using 2).... Did you wake up yet???
@@vince11harris @vince11harris can be defined in many ways my friend. 1) the behaviour and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice. 2) sarcasm, meaning you're really sleeving (matrix) I'm using 2)
I now only watch highlights cause the reffing is so infuriating I cant stand it, also some games just seems like a shoot around which if hot is fun to watch but if they're bricking then its so boring. The only time I watch full games when its a banger like gsw vs mavs or when we are getting into the championships (when rivalries are present). Great vid Hoop all you points hit on the reason why the NBA is on a downtrend.
my post ,Part of the fun was listening to Mark Jackson and VanGundy narrate even a dull game. They are tied to the hip to the WNBA-it's like anchor pulling them down-and the terrible-looking multi-colored courts, which make it hard on the eyes to watch, an oversaturation. Even college ball doesn't do that! and my personal favorite load management! , AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE HORENDUS OFFICIATING Peolpe shouldn't believe their lying eyes !
I remember someone tweeted about how most of the players nowadays seemingly don’t care about being great, they just shown up, do the bare minimum, collect paychecks and hit on ig models
The cheapest NBA ticket I can buy is $70 to a Tuesday night game. To be fair, I live in the Bay Area and want to watch the warriors, but SF Giants baseball tickets are like $20… Not to mention the whole streaming fiasco where it’s impossible to watch every game even if you have League Pass…
And that’s just getting to Chase. I got free tickets and still dropped over 100 on food and drinks. Chase center is dope though and seeing Steph play live is worth it
@@qqw743 NBA arenas hold like 20k people max; the Bay area with GSW will always max out the 20k seats since it's GSW, the Bay Area, Curry, and a good chunk are corporate seats. The predicament is the total viewership numbers, which is where the bulk of their revenue (broadcasting) comes from. Those figures are like half of what they used to be, which is the polar opposite of growth; not only are they not growing, but they're losing tons of fans they've had.
@@anshuman6923 OK, so the NBA loses fans. Why is that a problem? Am I invested in the league doing well, or in players playing basketball? Suppose I accept the logic that half the fans move to Mars. So what?
@@widmarkpolynice565Deals can be broken, depending on whether the conditions are met or not, if a company signs a contract with the NBA it is because the NBA serves to promote the company's product, if a TV network signs with the NBA it is because it believes that the The NBA will give it a certain rating...if the NBA does not meet these characteristics, these contracts can be dropped, annulled or even sued, it can also and does affect future contracts.😂
@@javirios3107 viewership is down 48% over the decade meanwhile EVERY SPORT INCLUDING HOCKEY is the complete opposite. NBA will continue to slowly whore themselves out and diminish the game of basketball even more. They did it to themselves, the easiest sport & wimpiest players in the world
HUGE NBA fan 1975 to 1999....held season tickets for almost a decade.....interest began to wane circa 2004 and I haven't watched ANY NBA game since 2009......assuming it's not any better today since 2009.
I kinda disagree with this comment, because I believe the 2010s were a good era for nba viewership with Lebron joining the heat=drama and the warriors and Cavs rivalry. Even if the 2017 and 2018 finals were not close, it was still getting so many views.
@@RayanButler-h2m yeah since like 2019 the views have took a nosedive. But there was a little resurgence when Curry and the Warriors won in the 2022 playoffs
I agree with all you said. One thing else to add is that some games start too late, a game finishing around 1a.m. eastern time during the week makes no sense at all. Some of us have to wake up early you know.
It’s actually pretty crazy. LeBron being an absolute p@&$! started the downfall of the league. To be fair Boston was the 1st super team, but LeBron reacted and made his team in Miami in which he got punked by Dirk and co the first year. Dwayne was the leader of that team almost the whole time until LeBron could “learn how to win.” Don’t get me wrong though. That cavaliers chip against golden state was great. We were lucky to have LeBron in our generation….up until this LA run.
@@tmub23 Veterans joining a great team to try and win a ring near the tail end of their careers isn't the same as three superstars in their prime joining up to try and form a dynasty. Even the Boston "superteam" was more about chemistry and less about any of those guys being individually great at that point in their careers. LeBron's desperate behavior in his effort to try and catch MJ by any means (team hopping, propaganda, stat chasing, flopping; basically anything but actually coming up clutch and winning more championships with the same team) is what inspired guys like KD to join the Warriors. Not what happened in 08 and certainly not what happened in 04 (which led to Shaq leaving). And after Miami LeBron tried to form a superteam again in 2015 and again in 2020. Fact is, LeBron ushered in the so-called player empowerment movement that shifted the culture and combined with everyone else trying to shoot the three like Curry and the analytics guys supporting that, the league is what it is now.
my reasons (no particular order) -local TV blackouts -no defense -every team plays the same way, no unique playstyles (just chucking up 3s) -too political (this can apply to anything - video games, movies, tv shows, etc - sports can be an escapism for people from everyday news and nonsense, they dont want to tune into sports and be pumped with political messaging whether they agree with the side of the messaging or not) -load management -teams dont try until playoffs -season gimmicks to try and generate interest (play-in/nba cup) -no more rivalries, players too friendly with opponent players -adam silver is too soft of a commissioner -divisive face of the league (lebron james) -skyrocketing ticket prices, harder and harder for an average family to go to games regularly All of the above can be summed up with this: the nba is now, simply put, boring. It was a lot more exciting to tune into a random game that wasnt your favorite team 10-15-20+ years ago than it is today.
@@happyliving1922since when was being anti rape divisive? I thought it was mostly about the diddy parties and putting his family at risk (theres also multiple other shitty takes he’s had)
FOR ME: I'm 40 yrs old and grew up knowing most of NBA team Rosters. You grew to understand team chemistry and their players and on-court dynamics because their starting 5 didn't change every year, or even multiple times DURING THE SEASON. Watching Bulls, Celtics, Pistons, Magic, Lakers back in the day was a treat because I knew the teams and their players. Now you can't count on anything anymore. Also: jacking up 70 threes a game with no "Big Man in the Paint" is just boring. Bring back a league where you got to FIGHT to win. These 2 factors are at the top of my list.
I'm 43 and I completely agree. When we were kids, if you said "Utah Jazz", you'd immediately think of Malone and Stockton. Now, I have to go online and look up their roster. On the court it's either endless 3s, or uncontested drives to the lane. Final score: 145-140.
I’m 46 I use to be able to name almost every player on the starting 5 in the whole league .. now they all look the same, sound the same, play the same style .. what’s the point .. They keeps saying it’s hard to find game .. but I don’t want to watch that garbage either way
I'm 47 and my entire childhood in Boston was Bird, McHale, and Parish going up against Magic, Worthy, and Kareem. My adolescence was Jordan and Pippen vs. the World. The Western Conference playoffs were an event every year even though we all knew it was a battle for second place, just because there were so many great teams developing rivalries over that 8-year stretch. Listen to Kurtis Blow's classic Basketball rap and listen to the names he drops. Those guys were as associated with their cities and their teams as they were with their own brand. You don't get that anymore.
Larry Bird said leave the game the way you found it in this game will last forever. They changed the game. What do you expect but then again people are just watching less of everything nowadays people are just watching videos and catching the highlights.
Oh yeah, it’s hard to watch grown men traveling on the basketball court. It’s hard to watch. It hurts to watch you added a third step to the game change the entire game.
I stopped watching the NBA once LeBron went to Miami. I noticed the leagie was shifting towards a more "me first" attitude, and teams were just letting people leave. Maybe I'm just spoiled because I grew up watching the 90's and 2000's NBA when it was actually competitive and worth watching. Also, I hate that every sports player nowadays has a flippin podcast.
Watching a game of basketball is very hard because of all the ad breaks and all the pauses, that kills the game for a lot of people who watch it considering basketball is considered a fast paced game
Those damn courts be burning my eyes. Horrible. It like I'm watching a three point contest doing an all star game. That in season tournament is just a money grab smh
The product the NBA has put forth with the In-Season Cupcake Tournament, the lame All-Star Game Changes and 3-Point and Slam Dunk are all garbage. The games are just a boring 3-Point competition without any defense. The whole packaged product of the NBA lacks anything exciting and people have lost interest.
-Absolutely no competition. -Feels like a bunch of friends playing but everyone wants to be the nice guy. -NBA refs don’t enforce rules. Players barely dribble on lay ups….traveling all over the floor. No defense at all….then players like lefruad james and steph curry get compared to the greats but the rules allow for more scoring less defense….the NBA isn’t the same sport when I was young in the 90’s…..you guys have absolutely destroyed this sport with all the political rhetoric. College seems to have alot of white boys playing but for some reason those same guys aren’t good enough for the NBA….the Black culture has turned half the country off from watching…..ESPN has turned this sport into a black culture propaganda…..why can’t we just watch a sport without all the racial crap….let men compete of all races and let the best man win…..
The league that lets a father-son duo play on the same team, one past his prime and the other lacking every skill needed for a top-quality player, can't expect loyalty or viewership
Baseball is a statistical game. Soccer is the worlds game. Hockey is the winter game. Football is war on turf. Basketball is a athletic tall man's game being played by grown men who act like children. Its become too soft & too diva.
You're so spot on. I grew up playing basketball. I started watching the NBA when rookie Kobe entered the league in 1996. But then I've had to watch the slow decline of the sport over the next 28 years, not watching a single game for the past 3 years. There is no drama, no emotion, no loyalty, no physicality. The game is stopped every 15 seconds. If not because someone accidentally touched another player or looked at him wrong, then because of a commercial timeout. The league is alienating the true fans with overcommercialization and prioritizing profits over what's good for the sport and fans. The NBA was such a huge part of my childhood and life. I'm realizing now that I've been grieving it for the past few years. It might still be here, but it's not the same. The NBA that I loved is dead.
Actually it is normal. I am 40 and watch every game of Reggie miller and MJ. Since MJ retired I haven't watched for a long time. Another reason is I am living in Asia Hong Kong watching NBA become more expensive and difficult is another important reason
Le Bum is a turn off with his out of hand ego.Another thing is, you almost know what the outcome is gonna be. With 2 minutes to go, the game is tied, and the home team always wins, it's that simple.
As a casual basketball viewer who only really watches highlights during the regular season and tunes into the playoffs mostly, I actually found myself watching the Olympic basketball games this summer. I feel like the NBA can benefit from adopting more of their style. The games are shorter with fewer timeouts so there is a way quicker pacing. There is no 3 sec rule on defense so teams can play more defensively sound and run zone if they want and the refs let them play rough and throw contact not like some the extremely soft calls in the NBA. Finally, the limited amount of games and with single elimination series just made every game feel that much important and players noticeably cared more as they were playing for their country.
Me personally in order: 1) Too many 3's 2) Flopping 3) All the foul calls slow the game to a crawl 4) No defense 5) Became political 6) Everyone screams at the refs 7) Players are terrible role models 8) Everything is a foul to the point the refs are part of the game
@@ThePhulosopherJust imo, but it takes out the competitiveness out of the game, and just turns it into a game of variance. Team shoots well, win; team shoots bad, lose. To add, fans want to see their favorite players beat the other teams best player. It's gotten so lazy and predictable that it's not even entertaining anymore when it feels like the majority of plays is just 2-3 swing passes for a three.
@@ThePhulosopher Another reason I'm not a fan of the "too many 3's" -- they are low-percentage shots. Not only is the style of play boring, but the best teams in the league only hit about 40% of 3-pointers. So, if you're team chucks 50, you're watching them miss about 30 shots. So, the rhythm of the game is something like this: * Run down court. * Find first open 3. * Shoot (fans want it to go in). * Most of the time, miss. (Fans getting annoyed.) * Other team rebounds, and tries the same thing. Related to this: I hate iso ball. And there's way too much of it. What I think a lot of fans really want is good, team basketball with great ball movement, competitive play, nice finishes, and intense defense.
there is defense, it’s just less physical and more technical. teams are also trying to win, so 3s are a very effective shot. players were even worse role models in the 90s. karl malone, mj, magic, and ron artest werent good role models.
What's the #1 thing the NBA can do to make the NBA great again?
Stop the 3-pt revolution
The overall intensity and players stop being soft
Too many games make them meaningless as well. The games aren't an event anymore, it's just 1 in a long series of statistics... that doesn't sell.
Apologize for LeBron
Move to New Zealand.
1). No defense.
2). Everyone chucks up 3s.
3). Refs call everything a foul.
4). Load management/entitled players who sit out multiple games.
5). Can’t watch games free anymore. You need to have Hulu, Prime, League pass etc.
It’s not worth it anymore. Even to go see games are mad expensive.
Nice summary
6. LeFraud James
7. Too much politics
8. So many injuries
9. Not so much physicality
@@wazzup233 I'd bump up 8-9 to the 6-7 position. 6. Lebron is almost done. 8. add quotation marks on the "injuries" LOL
10. No legit rivalries, very few teams with longevity/culture, basically feels like 150 guys all on teams of 1
11 Too many foreign players that US audience can’t relate too.
Why isn't anyone mentioning how a 48 minute game is dragged out to 3 hours after all the time outs and advertising stoppages. The NBA made their product unwatchable.
Dude, I found out recently they play commercials on part of the screen while players are shooting FTs.... So glad I haven't watched a full game in several yrs 🥱
@@zerocal76 For me it has been funny, until Kobe Bryant left, he might have been the biggest reason the NBA was relevant.
Like the NFL
NFL is even worse. In a 3 hour broadcast, you get an average of 18 minutes of actual football.
There are plenty of issues, but you are just making this one up. 😂 Games last around 2 hours like they have always been. What are you talking about?
I hate all the commercials, I hate how 10 seconds in the final quarter turns into 30 more mins of commercials.
It's actually quite simple. We can watch the short 2 min recap or the 15 min full length. Then after they made it so hard to watch your local teams you lost interest. The mavs just gave us local games free and now my kids actually watch it with me. Going to ballys sports killed the years my oldest kid would have become a fan
Players move to another team for an extra five bucks. Fans say, just "rich teams pay to get a championship." Money, money, money. Not a sport anymore.
That’s been a thing for 40 years tho.
@marvymarv959 it's way worse now. Even the jerseys got ads
Or reviewing plays that don’t need to be reviewed
Its just kind of a boring sport to watch with how long a game is dragged out. A 50 minute game becomes hours, there's literally more commercials than basketball
Very true. I'm Italian so I watch on repeat due to timezone difference. The few games I watched live made me wanna throw the TV out of the window 😂
@@Denien82yeah we better stay at football on Europe😅
I stopped watching once I realized its no longer a competition. Its a exhibition sport.
Yeah i bet you like watching dontyuhyacuhk
may as well be harlem globetrotters
Can not agree more
Yes nba had it's time Maybe it's run is over
Wwe
- No defense
- Bad refereeing
- No emotion, taunting, star vs. star matchups, and again because of bad refereeing
- NBA's aggressive management of League Pass and pricing
I canceled my subscription at the end of the season. They revoked my playoff access, which I had already paid for, and then tried to charge me for a new subscription month later. i will never try this again.
HUGE NBA fan 1975 to 1999....held season tickets for almost a decade.....interest began to wane circa 2004 and I haven't watched ANY NBA game since 2009......assuming it's not any better today since 2009.
@@zell75013 1. people didn’t play good defense before, they just played bad offense back in the 80s and 90s
2. refereeing is more accurate than it ever has been. if you have problems with like the rules, that’s a different issue.
3. that’s because the nba got too corporate. people clutched their pearls about the malice at the palace and this is the result.
4. i got a yearly subscription to league pass on black friday for $50 for the year. that’s less than a dollar a game (even if you only watch one team.)
I stopped watching when the let LeBron take 7 steps and not get called for traveling.
@@strapt313Jordan traveled plenty and got away with it
I agree with everything you said but defense. You’re gonna tell me teams like Oklahoma City, Houston, Boston, GSW, Cavs, wolves aren’t playing defense.
It's pretty tough watching your favorite team when you need to pay out for 3 different subscriptions, and you'll still miss a few games.
I missed the raptors bulls game cause I didn't have the right viewing service😂
@ yeah, you have to use hack sites or apps to watch all of the games. Which is super lame
Was just about to comment this. I like the Bucks and Warriors, and it genuinely feels like you need like 10 subscriptions to watch the games. TNT, ABC, ESPN, and NBATV. Just leave it at them
@@InsertHandleName989 I believe that's the true reason why viewership is low.
Considering the product you are getting, one subscription is too much.
NBA is a series of annoying ads for 2 hours with small occasional clips of basketball
The biggest reason ratings
Are down is because fans can't watch their local teams
This is so true. Think about it, why did Cuban sell the Mavs??? The bubble is bursting.
Illegal streaming exists 😎
Thank you. This shit is ridiculous.
Literally this. I live in LA and of course my favorite team is the Lakers. I NEED to have Spectrum cable to watch home games. It's fucking stupid and that exclusivity contract has to be terminated ASA-fucking-P. Spectrum is singlehandedly killing Laker viewership
This was us in phx, but the owner has chose to let the Suns games to be broadcasted on local TV, obviously there are a handful of games that we miss but for the most part it's there.
Personally, i think you missed the most important reason. The blantant disregard for the rules of basketball. Basketball and its rules have been established for over 100 years. Every kid learns the rules through either rec leagues or through gym class. But the NBA doesn't doesnt follow them, especially traveling and carrying. College basketball continues to grow in popularity because we are watching elite athletes do amazing things on the court while following the rules everyone knows. The NBA has turned themselves into a league of Harlem Globetrotters, fun for a few minutes but not to be taken seriously because you aren't actually watching basketball but a fake imitation of the game.
It’s a microcosm of the ‘progressive’ mindset the league has adapted. No self responsibility, no regard for history, just riding the wave of the new trendy woke thing
Exactly. Its not even basketball anymore.
Which rules are you referring to exactly? Are you just talking about dribbling and ball handling?
@@ryan_at_work I think he actually means the travelling rule, but yes ball handling and dribbling are part of that.
Essentially the way the rule was first used and originally implemented, even by the NBA, is NOT how the rule works today in the NBA 😂.
Unfortunately he wasn't far off the mark, the NBA of today is not too far off the Harlem Globetrotters of the 60s 😂.
sorry gramps. Your complaints about travelling and carrying is overblown. Maybe ur just salty because a bum like Kuzma can 1 v 15, blindfolded with one hand tied to opposite foot, ez diff smoke your favorite 90s team, lol.
As a Brit I’ll give my 2 cents on this. I’ve tried to watch both the NBA and NFL (never tried watching MBL). The thing for me with your sports is the commercial stoppages. In the U.K. our football premier league has 45 mins each half and it’s completely uninterrupted - no commercials at all. We get them at half time and that’s it. It makes a huge difference.
@@emlaw2I’ll see your soccer and raise you Yank football
British people i have a simple advice for you, don't ever compare yourself to Americans. Just because you speak the same language doesn't mean you're the same people. That's the problem with you folks over there always putting your two cents in on American affairs. I say stop that nobody cares about your clueless opinions.
@@emlaw2 If real football ⚽️ is boring, then how is real football ⚽️ the most popular and most watched sport in the world.
@@emlaw2its ehy its the most watched Sport by far globally?!
@@emlaw2 not more boring than American Football.
When Artest went into the crowd, the NBA said, "We're done with any physicality. Its now ballet. No hard play, no hard fouls, no D, no aggression of any kind." That was 2004.
People don’t watch NBA for the love of basketball anymore, they watch it to monitor parlays. NBA is ruining its own product by legalizing gambling.
That really pisses me off about what happens to NBA given they advertise more than show the games.
Pretty sad if they are watching NBA for parlays only. How sad the world has gotten woowwww
The product was ruined when Stern changed the game to promote MJ.
Can’t believe gambling wasn’t mentioned and I’ve only found your comment bringing it up. It’s directly tied to how the game is reffed.
Nba gambling sucks. Feels like nobody really does it. Not like 2 years ago when it seemed to be the easiest sport to bet on.
It has become a "me, not we" league, and when your best players don't care about the team, it's hard for fans to care.
except the Celtics.
Embiid
The ratings are primarily down because the NBA got political. Me and many others quit watching when the NBA had BLM support on the court. It's that simple. We're sick of LeBron, sick of political messages, and we simply never came back to watching the NBA after this.
@@GB-ez6geexcept also 2004 Atlanta Hawks.
@@johnt5827 so basically, you think LeBron cares that you’re upset because you can’t practice white supremacy unchecked?😂
Each NBA game is like an All Star game. No defense, nobody tries, nobody cares and they watch each shoot 3 pointers. It’s so dumb and unsustainable.
Im from Europe im not a big basketball watcher but when i do watch the difference between a normal game and a playoff game is crazy in playoffs they doubleteam and try block in normal games there just like go try score i guess.
they kind of have to only chuck threes. No one can play defence because the refs calls a foul on them for so little.
Has always been like that. Is easy as heck to score that is why both teams put up like 80 to 100 points.
It's always been like that for the most part, it's why i watch college ball instead but even college bball is starting to trend towards that direction.
Nah you’re wrong players actually want to play defense Open your eyes they can’t tho refs call everything single thing !!
The inmates now run the asylum. Players pick coaches. Player refusing to play for selfish reasons. Forcing their way off teams despite being under contract. Failed "super teams." All offence no defense. Players not caring about the team, city or fans that buy tickets. The product is no longer team basketball, The product is now selfishness.
What's wrong? Isn't that what you all wanted..."practice ya'all takin' about practice man"
Adam Silver will go down in history as the worst commissioner in professional sports
Doubt it
Rob Manfred from the MLB would like to have a word
And the one that GAVE THE LEAGUE TO LeDIDDY SHAMES
Never heard of Gary Bettman, huh?
Why are they always Jewish?
The real reason why the ratings are down is because they stopped Chris Smoove from uploading the game recaps every night. Just saying.
Eyyy Chris Smoove be waitin’ on a noob? Man, I haven’t heard from him for a long time.
Clown
That was a noob move. Give those guys a map. What were they doing
You sagg off, your swags off!
False...Most "fans" don't have the attention span to watch a full game. Game recaps reduce the need to watch games therefore hurt ratings.
One of my best friends is a bulls fan. I asked him why he's a bulls fan (he's lived in Georgia his whole life). He told me that his dad was a bulls fan and took him to a bulls hawks game in the 90s for his birthday. He got to see Jordan, Rodman, and Pippen play and has been a die hard fan ever since. His father died a few years later and he said it's his favorite memory with his dad. Imagine if his dad took him to that game and Jordan was load managing, and Pippen and Rodman fouled out. That's a huge part of the problem rn.
He's a bulls fan because that's how bandwagon fans work - they like winners.
I also ever became a fan of Suns back in 2000s.
@BossItUp911 adopting your father's/family's favorite team cannot be considered bandwagon riding, otherwise basically everyone is doing so. Maybe their dad could be called a bandwagon rider. I grew up a Cowboys and San Antonio Spurs fan, because they were my dad's teams. Started watching after the Cowboy's 90's success, but right at the start of the Spurs 5 championships. My Dad is from Central Texas though, and I spent a good portion of my life there too, maybe being local is what makes the difference to you? I kinda get that, but still think almost everyone inherits their favorite teams from the people around them when they start watching, and so that simply can't be called bandwagonning.
I stopped watching sports as my favorite players from those teams retired, and I realized I was spending way too much time and especially mental energy on something that gave me very little to nothing in return. Anywho,
@BossItUp911 not true I'm a Knicks fan due to them challenging the bulls. Oakley and Mason were Dawgs , that type of hustle isn't there anymore
@@BossItUp911 Calling Bulls fan, in Georgia of all places, a bandwagoner after Bulls being trash since Jordan left is actually insane 😂
Reason the nba is declining in viewership
1. Defense-Feels like defence is slowly fumbling.
2. Physicality- I ain’t seeing enough bumps
3.Rivalries- No tension. Only if Kevin Durant gave it 3 more years.😢
4.Players who sit out- Most of the time nothing is really wrong they just being lazy.
5. Refs- If you breathe next to a ref you’ll be fined 10k. They also need to purchase 🕶️
6.Ads-😢😢😢😢😢😢
7. Swagger- Allen iverson😢
8.Trying to watch a game- Why does trying to find a game to watch with the whole legume pass thing
9.LeBrons gonna retire
10. All star break- We come here to watch the best players in the league vs each other an I have to set back and watch hot potato without the other team doing anything. Dunk contest is becoming repetitive. WTH was the skills contest
11. I dont even know
Offensive players initiating contact is being called a defensive foul is outrageous. We need 80’s and 90’s basketball back.
I would rather watch street ball on TH-cam than watch nba. Street ball is pure ball. Like 80s/90s ball
Absolutely. Like those fake 3s, lean the body into the defender, fall down while over-acting a brutal foul and finally go to the line
That tactic of the offense player moving into a defender that goes straight up was used so much by Kobi. It should have stopped back then.
Fr, offensive players can run into the defense and the defense gets the foul. Its ridiculous, its been going on for years.
95-2010 basketball was best
All these proud sponsor betting apps are killing the game......
Can't wait to see 500 wholesome sports gambling ads on christmas
Lol. No one I know cares about that. We aren't watching the games bc that shit. I hear this theory being thrown around on the internet only
Sports gambling has been around as long as the sport. That’s why the is the mob and Las Vegas.
Killing sports.
In what way ? I’m not really into all that betting/gambling, but wouldn’t an increase in gambling on games mean more people would want to watch NBA to see if their picks win ?
People forget what those Sunday Jordan Bulls games were like on NBC, it was like a modern day prime time NFL game, must see tv, huge ratings.
Nah was practically the same.
There’s no mystery to look forward to. Too much media, I’d rather play NBA2K
Especially watching them pull up at MSG to play the Knicks. You knew it was going down
NBA now is a wussy league. No D. No hand checks. No people like the bad boys. Dunno wut happened.
We would stop whatever we was doing and ran inside..... We talked after the game 😂
Stop watching the nfl as well. They hate you
Js promoting Ns.
@@hansjuker8296 New stars?
@@hansjuker8296Js don’t own the NFL lmfao. Everything rich people do you blame it on the Js so you can say your own race isn’t responsible for anything ever
Adam Silver singlehandedly destroyed what was left of the NBA . Cancelled my league pass until he gets the boot . . . . . . . . . .
I'm glad someone mentioned Adam Silver. He is the main reason
He absolutely is the main reason!!
He's an alien too!
AGREED 100%
adam silver is the mark zuckerberg of the NBA
1:- Soft Commissioner who allows players to do anything they like.
2:- Soft Players.
3:- Soft referees told to stop anything so much as a nasty look.
4:- When players aren't soft they are treated like kids in the school playground and told to stop being a bad boy.
5:- No defence.
6:- Load management.
7:- Travelling.
8:- Too many players not caring about the regular season.
9:- Too much reliance on three pointers.
10:- Too much player empowerment.
11:- Guaranteed contracts.
12:- Rookies coming into the league already loaded with large sponsorships, ie, lack of motivation.
13:- Too many players concerned with social media, youtube and showing off.
Having watched the NBA since the 90's I am truly shocked how bad it has gotten, I really cannot see how it will ever get better as long as the league continues to make more and more money.
Ur right
Plus soft jerseys that rip too easily
That's the explinatuon right there. As a 90s og, your stuck in the past, and coping knowing none of the legends and plumbers you grew ip watching when you were 13 would make it in today's nba. Maybe a select few. Any nba team is a top seed in the 90s. Prove me wrong. No defense? Not being able to hand check and force the defender where you want them to go is no defense? How, since now you have to actually move your feet and have quick reaction time to stay in front of the offensive player? No hand checking=no defense. Got it. Is it no defense because plauers don't knock you out of the air mid layup and on to the ground when you try to score in the paint? Is it nod defense because plauers don't try to kill a mf when they realize they can't guard him with actual honest defense? No dirty and or hard fouls=no defense. Got it. Yall oldheads killing me woth this bs. And don't blame 3s for the evolution of the game, none of your legend plumbers cpuld shoot like that, doesn't mean the 3 ruined the game. Your age catching up to u OG
I still can't believe the NBA got the recent tv contract. It will be there last one. With so many games on apps, the viewership will not improve. I grew up in the 80s with the Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, and Jordan's Bulls. I can't watch the NBA anymore. Just not the same.
@@animecity9678So why are younger fans not tuning in like old heads then? Because I know a lot of them that are watching other sports because they tell me the game sucks. So what they?
Because 97% of them dont even look like they want to be out there. Like they're being bothered.
I'm not even a big basketball fan and watching grown men out there with no pride and no soul in their craft isn't going to capture me as one. They just don't care. Guess you can say they sold out.
True. NBA used to be popular in late 1990s.
Social media generation bro… these people are not sociable at all… just a bunch of antisocial ass people
Like a bunch of NPCs.
Literally, they rather just get views and hang out with famous rappers. Nobody is out there for the passion of basketball
They are💀🤣 they’re puppets
I’ve been saying this for years and people keep saying viewership is hitting new highs, you can tell it’s a dying game with how it’s being played
In my opinion the biggest reason why the league is dying is because, the league is just boring as hell. There is no more variety in the nba anymore. Every team just plays pace and space and hunt 3s all day. There is no inside outside, there is no post play, there are no set plays for easy baskets, and there isn't any defensive oriented teams. The league is now just plain boring to watch.
Basketball is a niche sport in my opinion, I tried to get into and it just lacks so many of the things I like. There's no fights like hockey, no ultra fast sprints like football, no hard checks-tackles. Roster construction is meh, the strategies and stats don't feel particularly interesting.(EDIT: I'm sure someone will try to correct me, my point is this is how I as the customer feel) The spectacle is the social media spectacle and the fact they're so tall and fast/powerful. Basketball is a gym class sport IMO, like I absolutely love shooting hoops. It was my favorite sport in school etc. But when you subtract speed/size there's nothing particularly unique about the stars and myself. Meanwhile Football/Hockey is just on another level.I can barely skate, barely catch a football etc. I know I'm bashing basketball, I think it's a great sport to play, I just think it has a much lower ceiling than other sports. So much of the game is getting 2-3 superstar players on your team and watching them My main point is that its current popularity is based it being a fad. In my opinion it has twice as many fans as it should have. Basketball isn't failing as a sport, it has a healthy share of the sports market with solid dedicated fans,. Once it gets back to a sustainable level of popularity it should hold strong.
1000000000%
That is with every era. Back in late 80s and early 90s the only important player was the center/post player. and seeing you say that there are no set plays anymore proofs that you're the most casual watcher there is
NBA went woke now going broke 🤡
@@ll4680 wtf is that supposed to mean lol
You are spot on. Game is very athletic, but no drama. No sense that defense can affect the other team. Almost like watching a shooting contest and not a competitive game.
Nah his take sux it’s just shitty ball
that's interesting, very athletic but no drama.
It’s not just the NBA, It’s damn near all forms of modern entertainment in America. Most movies that come out now are just lazy sequels or apart of bigger franchises. We aren’t getting many ground breaking IPs
Sports aren’t played with the same love and passion. It’s all about putting the least amount of effort to get the most amount of money.
Súper bingo
All the music we hear are renditions of 90s and early 2000s now to add …
@@ricardomondragon7320 Or some generic modern BS... Copy paste mentality. Pop music is and always was all about making money but it used to be much more diverse and creative.
@@ricardomondragon7320 at least we got Bruno mars now
I was just thinking about how bad movies have been this last 10 years.
watch Taylor Sheridan Series (Yellowstone, Tulsa King, Landman, 1883 etc...) bro...his stuff is on the money!!
If the NBA was banned I would not care. Boring!
No actual dribbling , it’s called carry ball.
Facts haha James harden takes 5 steps gets the and 1 it’s so unwatchable
I don't mind the zero step and the carry as long as they bring back hand shakes. Just imagine a dribble god and a glove going at it on iso. Now that's something.
Plus, it backfired that the league balanced the game out. Since 2019, no franchise ever won 2 rings (TOR, LAL, MIL, GSW, DEN, BOS)
While balancing the game out improves competition, it eliminates dynasties and rivalries. Nobody are true rivals today.
Fans always wanna see a hero (Curry) win and they also wanna see a villain (LeBron) lose. MJ was seen as a hero now but he was the main villain in the 90's because he's whooping everyone's asses. They wanted to see MJ lose
1. Hard/expensive to watch games
2. Too many 3s
3. No defense - not competitive
4. Team hopping - ring chasing
5. Lebron James won’t piss off
I don't watch basketball much, why are shooting too many 3's a bad thing?
It's because they're so easy to shoot. Dunking just makes it way more fun to watch. Refs call everything a foul to the point where it's no entertainment of fighting or drama it's dumb. There's no arguments of people fighting to make it enjoyable or nothing. And actual good favorite players always get ejected.
Drama just aint there. Plus players just change teams every time it ruins drama and everything else. No loyalty no drama in this league Anymore.
@@ThePhulosopher Nobody goes hard for rebounds and they just regularly shoot them back to back. It takes no athleticism to shoot and the 'shooters' typically just stand around waiting for a pass. Compared to a team to wants to constantly take it to the hoop, the games are just flat boring.
@@ThePhulosopher it’s because the players of today are far better in every regard. So oldheads who are salty that there era was filled with a bunch of scrubs. Have to find any way possible, no matter how illogical it is, to hate on the new generation, so they can get some sort of feeling that their generation was good at basketball. When in reality they weren’t. These same people accept and realize the fact that the players of the 90s where FAR better than the players of the 60s. They just don’t want to accept that the players now are FAR better than the players of the 90s they grew up watching. They do everything in their power to downplay this generation of basketball
Players have no more charisma. No more epic rivalries, everyone is friends on the court. Bad refs. Load management. The game is too commercialized.
it’s the refs. everything else yall talk about is a symptom of bad refs.
@@will-zj5gq Entitled players aren't a cause from bad refs
@@thedarkestsoul yes it is 💀 if the refs stoped being bums players would have no choice but to fall in line or get left behind.
@@will-zj5gq what? 🤣🤣🤣
@@will-zj5gq its been like this since the 90s. year after year we blame bad officiating. its not the ref its the players entitlement and not competing with each other anymore but playing with each other
Every since Michael Jordan's "last shot" in 98, the NBA has never been the same again. Also the NBA needs to push its popular teams...Bulls, Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, Pistons, Suns, Rockets, Hornets back to the top. Those areas have big fan bases especially the Chicago Bulls. When Derrick Rose and the Bulls made that run in the early 2000's people were glad to see the Bulls back on top. MJ made that franchise a house hold name and you really can't go anywhere without seeing someone with a Bulls hat on.
The fact these guys can’t get past themselves to give the fans an all-star game is all you need to know.
Its so sad to lose love for my favorite sport
it's dying because everyone can see that most of the players aren't putting out maximum effort. there is very little defense and everyone is just jacking up 3 pointers. it's like they're just going out there and having a pregame shoot around. & these guys get paid way too much to only play 50-55 games out of a 82 game season. the biggest story this season was bronny james playing with his dad and bronny isn't even close to a NBA caliber player. the whole NBA has turned into a giant circus and everyone can see it.
this
Why I stop watching. Got 6'11 Centers playing on the arch.
You cant play defense if you get a technical foul if you touch players. 😂
I have only one reason I don't watch like I used too .I love the game but I've been watching basketball for over 60 years ,but I do watch all of my hometown Houston Rockets games
Biggest story this year is Joker smashing it again w/ monster games and crazy efficiency
nba needs an 'attitude' era
That’s already came and went
I see what you did there
Already had one in the 90s but I get it. There definitely needs to be a reworking of the league to be like it once was back then
The game just isn’t fun anymore
It’s like a video game
Fans are employing "load management" by not caring about a game unless it is a Playoff Game 7 or NBA Finals. Following the example of the players, who also don't care. 💰
My television is load managing
Excellent comment 👍🏾🔥💯
The ratings are primarily down because the NBA got political. Me and many others quit watching when the NBA had BLM support on the court. It's that simple. We're tired of LeBron and the political messages, and we simply never came back to watching the NBA after this.
For real though. I'm pretty stunned that the video and comments seem to completely ignore the fact that there are only maybe 4 serious contending teams in a given year sometimes only two. That means the average regular season game and even the first two rounds of playoffs are just absolutely meaningless. Every other league has at least 15 fanbases whose team has at least a small chance at a ring that year.
@@johnt5827gee a league full of black athletes would support BLM who would’ve thought?
These refs be ruining games fr 😥
Soft refs for soft players on a soft league. What's ruining the game is how you can waltz to the basket with a hundred dribble moves because no one can touch you, made the shot then celebrate like it is hard to do. So fuckig easy to score that missed shots are more exciting than than made ones. My local court has more defense than these posers.
@@normanserafin4872the players aren’t half as soft as the refs. The refs truly are ruining the NBA
Part of the fun was listening to Mark Jackson and VanGundy narrate even a dull game. They are tied to the hip to the WNBA-it's like anchor pulling them down-and the terrible-looking multi-colored courts, which make it hard on the eyes to watch, an oversaturation. Even college ball doesn't do that! and my personal favorite load management! , AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE HORENDUS OFFICIATING Peolpe shouldn't believe their lying eyes !
Yep 👏🏼 you got 5ft women officiating 7ft men. Nuff said 🎉
nba is sports entertainment for a reason
There’s no Mamba mentality anymore.
But there's a Goat mentality. Thanks to Lebron! 😂
Mamba mentality got him into helicopter 😂
@@man_of_war Ah yes, flop of the floor, can't hit a post shot, and then take a week off when you feel tired. What a goat.
@@man_of_warHe’s the Goat of LeDiddy parties
Mamba mentality is meaningless hype. What, other players aren't trying?
Good synopsis. The politics was a big one for me. Not interested in being lectured by someone that is supposed to be entertaining me. I don't care what they "think"? Another reason, not mentioned, is my favorite team is smaller market and doesn't seem likely to ever have a legit chance to win.
Wait until MLK day. How many puff pieces will they fit between games? HBCU shoutouts, black poets reading another race prose, and endless Kevin hart stuff. Enough
as you get older the less you really care about watching a bunch of grown overpaid man children play a sport.
yeah not to sound like an old man, but these days kids are wayyy more immature than they were 30 years ago. We forget sometimes that these we're watching 20-something year olds, and they act exactly as you'd expect - they care more about social media than playing the game well
facts
Right? As a niner and warrior fan so true
personally I hate how all these dudes are friends and seems like the competition has declined. Why care when the players don’t because they are paid
@@doctorg.k.spoderminsr.2588 okay boomer. Kids have always been immature social media and the internet just shines a brighter spotlight on it. I can vividly recall Jordan talking about how the 84 bulls team was doing cocaine in hotel rooms after the game. super mature i guess lol
The NFL used to penalize for merely spiking the ball with style, then they realized the fans like it, and now touchdowns are followed by one act plays and dance theater. That's entertainment.
Wrong. True fans watch the game FOR the game. Every single first down is now celebrated like a game winning touchdown. There is more "entertainment" now than football.
@@purplesprigsPersonally I live football more. I played basketball throughout school and never played football. NBA just isn’t the same anymore. It feels off and stale.
They banned spiking the ball after normal plays bc it's annoying af to chase down the ball between downs (totally understandable). But you're allowed to spike after a touchdown. The NBA is a joke compared to the NFL (besides the new kickoff rule, thats the dumbest thing i've ever seen).
celebrating after a 6 seconds of effort before your 30 second rest is weak
@@purplesprigs "True fans" aren't bringing in the money. The mighty dollar has spoken and, as it turns out, the general public loves entertainment.
8-figure salaries and no player loyalty; we aren't cheering for our teams anymore. There's no heart in the game anymore. Money broke the NBA.
i don't think that's all of it. we see the premier league have little loyalty to a badge sometimes and inflated salaries but they still maintain viewership because the culture is there. we need to bring that back but we can't build culture because they can't afford to watch or even go to a game lol
Tbf, that's MLB too and NFL to slightly lesser extent(?)
@nathan-in9qf absolutely. And cultural interest requires accessibility, literally and conceptually.
It’s a league of players not teams
this is the dumbest take out there. Wdym player loyalty? What does that mean if the team can trade a player lie commodity mid game. shut up. I understand the hate for players forcing trade, but the one who finish their contracts shouldn't be looked down upon if they decide to leave a team, they are free to do so.
Sub-par sport, with a terrible league and bad culture. Simple.
My list:
1. Flopping/fishing for fouls every play
2. Load management
3. Refs being too sensitive
4. Politics
5. 3
6. Unable to watch local games without buying multiple streaming sites.
7. No player loyalty (i get organizations arent loyal but perception of loyalty matters to fans because the reason NFL does so well is because you care about the Team than individual players)
are you ok with the commercials though? The non existing defenses? I ask from a european point of view. Watching NBA is unbearable. There are 3 minute stops all the time.
My television is just load managing. I'll maybe watch the game after next 😏
@@oiko2k4 Lack of defense and commercials would be 8 and 9.
@@oiko2k4 those are both things we all hate over here as well, trust us. I haven’t watched the nba in a loooooong time. One thing I will say is Ant and Ja make me enjoy the game in a similar way I did pre-Bron. Dude’s the biggest reasons for the sport becoming unwatchable.
People that get offended by a basketball player politics is not that bright
Honestly the reason why I don’t watch most of the time is because the average game isn’t that important. You can tell because when you watch the crowd is quiet and it feels like a scrimmage more than an intense game. Also watching highlights just replaces it. The NFL is more fun to actually watch live because there are big implications for almost every game.
Truth. NBA is boring. They are gonna go up and down the court and score buckets repeatedly for an hour. It's boring as all hell. Football, soccer and hockey when someone scores it's actually exciting because it doesn't always happen. Never seen a 0-0 ending basketball game.
@@drjjloveman So you think 0-0 games are exciting??
@@S1Carter7 0-0 games arent exciting, but when a game can end with a 0-0 scoring a goal actually means something
Regular season games are boring because players sit out or don't play hard anymore.
@@drjjloveman Soccer is interesting... lol
Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, dive-act like a prima-donna, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, dive-act like a prima-donna, pass, pass, pass, pass
To many soft players to much whining to many divas to many threes to much traveling just a few things that made me tuned out .
@@Nowsincehereyou're trying too hard
@Nowsincehere so you gonna report me for not using "too"?
Glad someone pointed out the travelling! Is there no pivot foot rule nowadays????
@@henrymalong4542you can lift your pivot foot you just can’t bring it back down after, or else every jumpshot would be a travel
none of that stuff matters. stop making excuses, it’s adam silver and the refs. that’s it. stop blaming other things letting adam silver and the refs off the hook. players will do whatever gives them an advantage, if the refs stop making soft play more viable the players would play tough.
UFC is where it’s at now
NBA doesnt feel like pinnacle of ball anymore. just feels like WWE
WWE is better
@@PinoyGuitaristDad The WWE and its "Sports Entertainment" crap has done more damage than you can imagine. It has infected american professional sports like a malignant virus. The NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL are no longer the leagues they used to be. It's become style over substance, spectacle over sport.
@sjdrifter72 In the nbas case I think it's neither of those. If it was then threes would be less and refs would let the drama happen
WWE is honest, the other sports still haven't broken kayfabe
Thank u
Some additional points:
- half the teams tanking every year for picks
- ads, every second time you turn it on there's a cheerleader dancing or singing
- game is too stop start.
the NFL is worse at tanking
They don't tank why do idiots like u say a team tank don't u know it's against the law to fix games
@@anthonytaylor7928 open secret. They tank by trading out their good players when they need to lose games.
Then the draft lottery is fixed when a good player is at the top of the draft
@@anthonytaylor7928 Once Vegas has a player in its grip... anything is possible. And no, I am not a conspiracy theory guy on any level.
The last minute of an NBA game is completely unwatchable. With all the timeouts and commercials, it turns into 45 minutes.
Conversely, in hockey, the final minute is must-watch TV. One team pulls their goalie and battles like hell to set up a cycle in their opponent's zone. While the other team hangs on for dear life, doing whatever they can to block shots, putting their bodies on the line each time. And there are zero commercial breaks in the final minute! It's awesome!
Yep and there are amazing TH-camrs who will edit out all the garbage and post it within an hour of the game ending. Why should I waste my time watching it live?
NHL ratings are also way down :(
@@oof8850 Dude I started that Idk how long ago, but even that has become unwatchable. It's a 3 point shootout, and everybody look like Shawn Marion when they going up for that 3pter. lol
lol no one watches hockey!
@@darksword1thanks for sharing
Been a trash product since the GOATs left. Jordan, Bird, Magic, etc.... Watch some games from 88-96. Great product. Great players. This epic NBA fail been a long time coming. That's why they're so dependent on China. NFL is next hopefully. Their product is trash too. Everyone wearing shorts, 2yd passes every other play, can't hit the QB, or anyone else. Hilarious. Oh, and the ridiculous kick-off rule. All gay. It's basically a flag football league now. So sad. I gave up on the NBA when Jordan left the Bulls.
You don’t think it might have something to do with streaming outlets charging $90/month to see local games? League Pass is a pretty good deal, but you can’t get the local team you probably follow. Why do we still need the home game blackout laws-penned back in the 60s? Let’s get rid of that law so we can see all games for one reasonable price.
Bingo
I have never heard of this until now but apparently the best way to watch an US basketball league is to not live in the US. Nice
It's so obvious if we're being real 😂🙃
You think thats bad, try watching the premier league in the uk any game played at 3pm local time you cannot watch, but if your in the us or elsewhere overseas you can ...
They really should broadcast games on free over the air TV locally.
In a flawed league where defense is not allowed, 3-point shooters dominate the game making it unwatchable. What did you expect?
It is because of the following reasons;
1) Referees decides the game outcome
2) On line betting is rampant
3) No more excitement on games
4) Fixed games are very visible
5) Insertion of politics (in this case leftist politics)
@@jrpark05tbh it's sad that players can't have a free opinion without some scardy cats freaking out about seeing a different opinion.
@@jrpark05 No, you just don't notice right-wing politics because of your bias.
@@jenm1she's mad 😡😂
yes, the NBA is obviously rigged, I lose interest in watching it once and for all, since it is manipulated by living betting scoreline adjustment. this really sucks
The political issue is much worse than just alienating the other side. After a long hard day of work, I want to come home and be entertained with a basketball game. Not be lectured about how terrible we are.
Yep. Woke politics ruined basketball for me. The kneeling and refusing to play the National Anthem insulted fans who love this country. Also, I don't want a lecture on racism after games from multimillionaires, and I'm black.
Lol fr. Like back when Lebron, who's prob one of the most privileged humans on earth, lectured america about 'white privilege'.. so insulting/arrogant made me so mad
Refs tapping down the emotions of the game is brutal. Competitive sports creates emotional responses that make the game interesting.
Technical fouls if someone celebrates anything has destroyed things, yes. Let the players taunt each other. Maybe they'll show some fight again.
Imagine if Mutombo had been given a tech every time he did the "No no no" gesture.
It’s not the refs my friend , they are all under orders from owners of NBA, the real question is why are the owners forcing the game to be this soft? What is the hidden message ?
@@FXM3integrating the WNBA?
@@Thanatos2kum, he was if it was directed at the other player.
@@Deezy26925 Who else is a celebration after a block directed to? Who cares who he's looking at? How mentally weak are these players??
To be fair players are making a lot of money so they don’t really have to care
Agree. But NFL is quite competitive and they make lots of money.
@@LaurenceI-ne7slas a packers fan I completely agree. The NFL north is loaded and whenever the teams play each other, it’s prime time.
The teams are also much larger. If you're an NFL star, there's always 4 or 5 guys right behind trying to take your job, so you have to have a fire under your butt. Also, the game itself is violent and that draws a certain type of player to the game. Even if they're getting pennies, an mma fighter will fight with all he's got simply because that's how he's wired. Same with NFL players. @LaurenceI-ne7sl
@@rwwilson21 The NFL has become unwatchable as the NBA. It's more spectacle and showboating than the competitive sport it used to be.
@@LaurenceI-ne7slbut they don't play that many games so each game feels important
The NBA made it clear: they're not interested in me being a fan. Made it clear over a decade ago. The NBA has been dead for years, TV contracts are all that keep them afloat.
Not enough people talking about this. The players and the league HATE US. They made it clear in 2020 that they didn't want people like me watching. So I don't watch.
Gambling is what keeps them alive**
@@GuymontagFahr451 absolutely.
Tv contracts won't work much longer if you don't watch...
Tv contracts are all that keep every sport afloat..
An underrated reason on why the NBA is dying is because of the media.
Cavs are 27-4 right now and are playing like a legit juggernaut, but they are completely ignored by all of sports media. Nobody is talking about them on ESPN or NBA TV.
They just recycle talking points about the same 4-5 aging superstars playing on mid to bad teams. The league and talking heads have made no effort to move on to the next era of basketball.
Other main reasons (mostly talked about in this video):
- Excessive fouls / free throws at the end of games
- Flopping / foul baiting being rewarded by refs
- Stars sitting out of games when not even injured
- NBA is a solved game, 3 pointer has made mid range pointless
The NBA has turned into analytics. Fans don't give a damn about efficiency, we care about passion. We want tension and drama, not reports of PER. The athletes are top-tier, but it seems they're just there to collect a check.
Bring back that 90s early 2000s style of play back to the league, and the NBA can have something again💯🎯
I believe the nba viewership was still very high between 2015 and 2018 with the Warriors and Cavs rivalry even with a more similar style of play compared to today. I don’t think we need to return to the 90s style of play for the viewership.
Facts! People getting tired seeing just threes and no defense been played. That inside out game was the true. Now it's outside in play. And it's boring to watch.
@@RayanButler-h2mit was already on a downward trend.
Have you been watching lately? The refs are allowing extremely physical play again. I watched the Jazz / Pistons game last night and it felt like a game straight out of the Bad Boys era.
@@ZachAttackIsBackdelusional
It is not the technical calls that dislike the fans, it is the inconsistency of the calling. Some players (Green, James etc) get away with screaming at the refs without any repercussions, while others (like in the video Tatum, Jockik, etc) get technical calls for almost nothing.
Basketball sucks
You have no idea what's being said by these guys who are more soft-spoken. They could go up and curse the ref out quietly and call him all sorts of names. Just because Draymond and LeBron might be louder than you like doesn't mean they deserve techs more. Rondo got ejected once for calling Billy Kennedy homophobic slurs (he's gay). He didn't scream at him. He went up and called him offensive names. We didn't know until afterwards. That's much worse than a guy being vocally louder.
@@ThorGodofThunder420youre homosexual
@@patmoore7868 golf addict
@@ThorGodofThunder420 thats some weak stuff - your mom still tie your shoes?
You make a lot of good points in this video. For me it's two things:
1) Refs. The calls are so subjective that they feel almost arbitrary and they frequently affect the outcome.
2) The players do not seem to care.
In the NBA, even in the playoffs when the stakes are high, I just don't enjoy the product. It feels like I'm watching a bunch of apathetic contestants on The Ref Show. The fact that I feel this way as a 30 y/o Boston sports fan is pretty sad.
If I actually cared enough to watch, I'm sure the blackouts and overwhelming amount of ads would bother me too, but I'm not even at that point.
I’m a lifelong nba fan, been watching for decades. Last few years I simply can’t figure out how and when to watch the games. It’s confusing as hell, super expensive, and no matter how much I pay and how many subscriptions I get I still get “out of your viewing area” messages for all the good games.
I gave up a long time ago and just started watching highlights on TH-cam for free.
It’s hilarious that the nba made it nearly impossible to watch the games then freaked out about why no one is watching. Also not including time zones of game times on the nba site doesn’t help.
Thank you finally someone is saying it. Yes some of these games are hard to watch, but I’ve found it more that it’s so hard to watch a game because of all the things we have to buy as a viewr
Lots of free streams.
@@hakancarlsson2881i think a lot of people watch the free streams but that drops viewership numbers because 2000 people could be watching 1 league pass
@@hakancarlsson2881 yh the illegal streams are eating the ratings if wasnt for that they would suprise how much people still watch it
As a lifelong nba fan, how can you support an inferior product? Even if all the games were free to watch and easily accessible, I refuse to watch this garbage
The reason is Adam Silver. David Stern’s NBA was nothing like this.
it actually started towards the end of sterns era, but yes silver completely ruined it
Don't get sentimental about David "it's not rigged if I pay the feds" Stern
@@_________________________7050 But that's still way better than the product Silver is producing sad to say.
I compare David Stern to Donald Trump, dude didn't tolerate the BS and the NBA was much better under David Stern. Adam Silver allowing the inmates to run the prison and I don't mean that in a offensive way I'm just making a point.
@@TampaAries David Stern rigged games and has an entire network behind the scenes connected to the feds, fixing games and gambling to fund his, uh, "overseas friends of a particular nation". He's not a tough guy, he's a scheming rat who shouldn't be glorified because his successor is a limp wristed "overseas friend"
It's almost like catering to the players was a bad idea
Grew up watching this, to much easy scoring & woke....switched to MMA/UFC
This! Literally this! This is the correct answer.
@@KoachSavagedefine what woke is
@@vince11harris Woke can be defined in many ways my friend. 1) the behaviour and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice. 😦
2) sarcasm, meaning you're really sleeping 💤 (the matrix) 🖥️
I'm using 2).... Did you wake up yet???
@@vince11harris @vince11harris can be defined in many ways my friend. 1) the behaviour and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice.
2) sarcasm, meaning you're really sleeving (matrix)
I'm using 2)
LeBron is the biggest joke and so is the NBA, hopefully they go bankrupt
Blaming LeBron when he had the biggest rivalries of the last decade is crazy
lol, so he blames the LeBron as NBA fall. You're douch
I used to watch the game live, then started only watching the highlights on TH-cam. Now I rarely even watch the highlights.
It feels like the Big 3 now. The shot clocks are a problem too. A 14 second shot clock after an O rebound is retarded. a
Same and many others like us
only watch highlights, then complain about no defense
me watching the old 80's, 90's and early 2000's NBA again and again. 🤘
I do the same with movies
That's all the nba I watch anymore. So the interest is still there the product just sucks now.
Facts. The mid 90s thru early 2000s was peak basketball for me.
A majority of us casuals refused to watch again after all the BLM BS.
@@cbarak72 It's strange how much of American culture peaked during that period. Saturday Night Live and popular music can be added to the list.
I now only watch highlights cause the reffing is so infuriating I cant stand it, also some games just seems like a shoot around which if hot is fun to watch but if they're bricking then its so boring. The only time I watch full games when its a banger like gsw vs mavs or when we are getting into the championships (when rivalries are present). Great vid Hoop all you points hit on the reason why the NBA is on a downtrend.
my post ,Part of the fun was listening to Mark Jackson and VanGundy narrate even a dull game. They are tied to the hip to the WNBA-it's like anchor pulling them down-and the terrible-looking multi-colored courts, which make it hard on the eyes to watch, an oversaturation. Even college ball doesn't do that! and my personal favorite load management! , AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE HORENDUS OFFICIATING Peolpe shouldn't believe their lying eyes !
They need to start taking a point or a half point if you miss a 3
I remember someone tweeted about how most of the players nowadays seemingly don’t care about being great, they just shown up, do the bare minimum, collect paychecks and hit on ig models
The cheapest NBA ticket I can buy is $70 to a Tuesday night game. To be fair, I live in the Bay Area and want to watch the warriors, but SF Giants baseball tickets are like $20… Not to mention the whole streaming fiasco where it’s impossible to watch every game even if you have League Pass…
fr they need to fix how we consume the product
It's a joke to say that the game is unpopular and I can't get a ticket. Which is it?
And that’s just getting to Chase. I got free tickets and still dropped over 100 on food and drinks. Chase center is dope though and seeing Steph play live is worth it
@@qqw743 NBA arenas hold like 20k people max; the Bay area with GSW will always max out the 20k seats since it's GSW, the Bay Area, Curry, and a good chunk are corporate seats. The predicament is the total viewership numbers, which is where the bulk of their revenue (broadcasting) comes from. Those figures are like half of what they used to be, which is the polar opposite of growth; not only are they not growing, but they're losing tons of fans they've had.
@@anshuman6923 OK, so the NBA loses fans. Why is that a problem? Am I invested in the league doing well, or in players playing basketball? Suppose I accept the logic that half the fans move to Mars. So what?
NBA athletes: the MOST PRIVILEGED PRO ATHLETES and biggest drama queens. Can’t wait for this league to finally fall off
They got a 77 billion dollar TV rights deal for the next 11 years, genius.
@@widmarkpolynice565so? People can still want to see it fall off, regardless the ratings are low
Nah never fall off lmao
@@widmarkpolynice565Deals can be broken, depending on whether the conditions are met or not, if a company signs a contract with the NBA it is because the NBA serves to promote the company's product, if a TV network signs with the NBA it is because it believes that the The NBA will give it a certain rating...if the NBA does not meet these characteristics, these contracts can be dropped, annulled or even sued, it can also and does affect future contracts.😂
@@javirios3107 viewership is down 48% over the decade meanwhile EVERY SPORT INCLUDING HOCKEY is the complete opposite. NBA will continue to slowly whore themselves out and diminish the game of basketball even more. They did it to themselves, the easiest sport & wimpiest players in the world
You're 100% right. In the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, I would never miss a game. Now I watch more regular season Patriots games than I do Celtics.
HUGE NBA fan 1975 to 1999....held season tickets for almost a decade.....interest began to wane circa 2004 and I haven't watched ANY NBA game since 2009......assuming it's not any better today since 2009.
I kinda disagree with this comment, because I believe the 2010s were a good era for nba viewership with Lebron joining the heat=drama and the warriors and Cavs rivalry. Even if the 2017 and 2018 finals were not close, it was still getting so many views.
@@RayanButler-h2m yeah since like 2019 the views have took a nosedive. But there was a little resurgence when Curry and the Warriors won in the 2022 playoffs
I agree with all you said.
One thing else to add is that some games start too late, a game finishing around 1a.m. eastern time during the week makes no sense at all.
Some of us have to wake up early you know.
Lebron and his friends killed it with super teams, flopping, lack of rivalries, no physicality.
Facts
It’s actually pretty crazy. LeBron being an absolute p@&$! started the downfall of the league. To be fair Boston was the 1st super team, but LeBron reacted and made his team in Miami in which he got punked by Dirk and co the first year. Dwayne was the leader of that team almost the whole time until LeBron could “learn how to win.” Don’t get me wrong though. That cavaliers chip against golden state was great. We were lucky to have LeBron in our generation….up until this LA run.
Superteams before bron went to Miami: 04 Lakers, 08 Celtics
@@tmub23 Veterans joining a great team to try and win a ring near the tail end of their careers isn't the same as three superstars in their prime joining up to try and form a dynasty. Even the Boston "superteam" was more about chemistry and less about any of those guys being individually great at that point in their careers.
LeBron's desperate behavior in his effort to try and catch MJ by any means (team hopping, propaganda, stat chasing, flopping; basically anything but actually coming up clutch and winning more championships with the same team) is what inspired guys like KD to join the Warriors. Not what happened in 08 and certainly not what happened in 04 (which led to Shaq leaving).
And after Miami LeBron tried to form a superteam again in 2015 and again in 2020. Fact is, LeBron ushered in the so-called player empowerment movement that shifted the culture and combined with everyone else trying to shoot the three like Curry and the analytics guys supporting that, the league is what it is now.
Lmao, LeBron broke haters brains, it's hilarious😂
my reasons (no particular order)
-local TV blackouts
-no defense
-every team plays the same way, no unique playstyles (just chucking up 3s)
-too political (this can apply to anything - video games, movies, tv shows, etc - sports can be an escapism for people from everyday news and nonsense, they dont want to tune into sports and be pumped with political messaging whether they agree with the side of the messaging or not)
-load management
-teams dont try until playoffs
-season gimmicks to try and generate interest (play-in/nba cup)
-no more rivalries, players too friendly with opponent players
-adam silver is too soft of a commissioner
-divisive face of the league (lebron james)
-skyrocketing ticket prices, harder and harder for an average family to go to games regularly
All of the above can be summed up with this: the nba is now, simply put, boring. It was a lot more exciting to tune into a random game that wasnt your favorite team 10-15-20+ years ago than it is today.
you get triggered easily if Lebron being anti-rape is too political
@@happyliving1922 If only that was all he got political about. It's all the other crap.
@@happyliving1922since when was being anti rape divisive? I thought it was mostly about the diddy parties and putting his family at risk (theres also multiple other shitty takes he’s had)
@@happyliving1922 you are part of the problem
I agree on the political stuff
FOR ME:
I'm 40 yrs old and grew up knowing most of NBA team Rosters. You grew to understand team chemistry and their players and on-court dynamics because their starting 5 didn't change every year, or even multiple times DURING THE SEASON.
Watching Bulls, Celtics, Pistons, Magic, Lakers back in the day was a treat because I knew the teams and their players.
Now you can't count on anything anymore.
Also: jacking up 70 threes a game with no "Big Man in the Paint" is just boring. Bring back a league where you got to FIGHT to win.
These 2 factors are at the top of my list.
I'm 43 and I completely agree.
When we were kids, if you said "Utah Jazz", you'd immediately think of Malone and Stockton.
Now, I have to go online and look up their roster.
On the court it's either endless 3s, or uncontested drives to the lane. Final score: 145-140.
I’m 46 I use to be able to name almost every player on the starting 5 in the whole league .. now they all look the same, sound the same, play the same style .. what’s the point ..
They keeps saying it’s hard to find game .. but I don’t want to watch that garbage either way
I'm 47 and my entire childhood in Boston was Bird, McHale, and Parish going up against Magic, Worthy, and Kareem. My adolescence was Jordan and Pippen vs. the World. The Western Conference playoffs were an event every year even though we all knew it was a battle for second place, just because there were so many great teams developing rivalries over that 8-year stretch. Listen to Kurtis Blow's classic Basketball rap and listen to the names he drops. Those guys were as associated with their cities and their teams as they were with their own brand.
You don't get that anymore.
Larry Bird said leave the game the way you found it in this game will last forever. They changed the game. What do you expect but then again people are just watching less of everything nowadays people are just watching videos and catching the highlights.
Oh yeah, it’s hard to watch grown men traveling on the basketball court. It’s hard to watch. It hurts to watch you added a third step to the game change the entire game.
I stopped watching the NBA once LeBron went to Miami. I noticed the leagie was shifting towards a more "me first" attitude, and teams were just letting people leave. Maybe I'm just spoiled because I grew up watching the 90's and 2000's NBA when it was actually competitive and worth watching.
Also, I hate that every sports player nowadays has a flippin podcast.
Watching a game of basketball is very hard because of all the ad breaks and all the pauses, that kills the game for a lot of people who watch it considering basketball is considered a fast paced game
Luka trying to bait fouls is worse than teams shooting “too many 3s”
He's not even the worst, it's Shai
As a die hard Mavs fan, I completely agree. Foul baiting, flopping and whining to refs is embarrassing to the sport.
As much as Luka is skilled...i cant stand watching players play like this. Harden, CP3, Lebron, Luka, and more...
you're kidding right? The fact that he can even get fouled at all when no one dares contest shots every game is a blessing.
They’re both bad and both make the game worse. I love Luka..but he literally complains the entire game.
1)They eliminated the big man
2)They only shoot 3s
3)No Defense
I don't watch basketball much, why are shooting too many 3's a bad thing?
boring. imagine watching soccer but instead, you could only scores from tap ins/long shots @@ThePhulosopher
@@trvyycrtr2206 Horrible comparison. Watching goals being scored is always a thrill no matter the way it's being scored.
@@ThePhulosopher It's boring to watch every team play the same way.
Haven't watched a game in 30 years and will never watch, same with baseball and nfl soon. Its not realistic! League' decides who wins!
Haha, I remember that Jokic ejection. Happened on SERBIAN HERITAGE NIGHT at the United Center.
And the NBA wonders why it's losing viewers
I mean that's not a reason to not eject him lmfao
@@majora919 it would be like throwing kobe out of his last game he played you just doint do it its calling understanding the sitution
I haven't watched one game in over 3 years, not missing anything
The in-season tournament is boring as hell and an eye sore to watch.
Those damn courts be burning my eyes. Horrible. It like I'm watching a three point contest doing an all star game. That in season tournament is just a money grab smh
The product the NBA has put forth with the In-Season Cupcake Tournament, the lame All-Star Game Changes and 3-Point and Slam Dunk are all garbage. The games are just a boring 3-Point competition without any defense. The whole packaged product of the NBA lacks anything exciting and people have lost interest.
-Absolutely no competition.
-Feels like a bunch of friends playing but everyone wants to be the nice guy.
-NBA refs don’t enforce rules. Players barely dribble on lay ups….traveling all over the floor.
No defense at all….then players like lefruad james and steph curry get compared to the greats but the rules allow for more scoring less defense….the NBA isn’t the same sport when I was young in the 90’s…..you guys have absolutely destroyed this sport with all the political rhetoric.
College seems to have alot of white boys playing but for some reason those same guys aren’t good enough for the NBA….the Black culture has turned half the country off from watching…..ESPN has turned this sport into a black culture propaganda…..why can’t we just watch a sport without all the racial crap….let men compete of all races and let the best man win…..
The league that lets a father-son duo play on the same team, one past his prime and the other lacking every skill needed for a top-quality player, can't expect loyalty or viewership
Just imagine a kid that really wanted to be a cop, firefighter, teacher, etc. has to spend even more time with his dad as an adult playing basketball.
Baseball is a statistical game.
Soccer is the worlds game.
Hockey is the winter game.
Football is war on turf.
Basketball is a athletic tall man's game being played by grown men who act like children. Its become too soft & too diva.
This way i think américains are dumb why are you calling football soccer 😂😂😂
You speak fax 🗣️
NBA needs a culture shift back to what it used to be
Nice thing about soccer. No commercials. Games are 90 minutes, no time outs
You're so spot on. I grew up playing basketball. I started watching the NBA when rookie Kobe entered the league in 1996. But then I've had to watch the slow decline of the sport over the next 28 years, not watching a single game for the past 3 years. There is no drama, no emotion, no loyalty, no physicality. The game is stopped every 15 seconds. If not because someone accidentally touched another player or looked at him wrong, then because of a commercial timeout. The league is alienating the true fans with overcommercialization and prioritizing profits over what's good for the sport and fans.
The NBA was such a huge part of my childhood and life. I'm realizing now that I've been grieving it for the past few years. It might still be here, but it's not the same. The NBA that I loved is dead.
Your comment needs more likes
For sure
We know why shebron is all smiles and hugs,, "aint no party like a diddy party"..
NBA is a fucking joke. I watched every season from 8 years old to about 19,20 years old. I’m now almost 23 and rarely ever watch
You was a lil youngsta
Actually it is normal. I am 40 and watch every game of Reggie miller and MJ. Since MJ retired I haven't watched for a long time. Another reason is I am living in Asia Hong Kong watching NBA become more expensive and difficult is another important reason
Le Bum is a turn off with his out of hand ego.Another thing is, you almost know what the outcome is gonna be. With 2 minutes to go, the game is tied, and the home team always wins, it's that simple.
@@stephenfletcher1579 so 1 player stopped you from watching the entire league?
you stop watching the NFL cause of players like clowney by chance?
As a casual basketball viewer who only really watches highlights during the regular season and tunes into the playoffs mostly, I actually found myself watching the Olympic basketball games this summer. I feel like the NBA can benefit from adopting more of their style. The games are shorter with fewer timeouts so there is a way quicker pacing. There is no 3 sec rule on defense so teams can play more defensively sound and run zone if they want and the refs let them play rough and throw contact not like some the extremely soft calls in the NBA. Finally, the limited amount of games and with single elimination series just made every game feel that much important and players noticeably cared more as they were playing for their country.
You aren’t getting toughness in the nba until lebaby retires.
Me personally in order:
1) Too many 3's
2) Flopping
3) All the foul calls slow the game to a crawl
4) No defense
5) Became political
6) Everyone screams at the refs
7) Players are terrible role models
8) Everything is a foul to the point the refs are part of the game
I don't watch basketball much, why are shooting too many 3's a bad thing?
@@ThePhulosopherJust imo, but it takes out the competitiveness out of the game, and just turns it into a game of variance. Team shoots well, win; team shoots bad, lose. To add, fans want to see their favorite players beat the other teams best player. It's gotten so lazy and predictable that it's not even entertaining anymore when it feels like the majority of plays is just 2-3 swing passes for a three.
@@ThePhulosopherboring and predictable..makes the game super dragged with no excitement
@@ThePhulosopher Another reason I'm not a fan of the "too many 3's" -- they are low-percentage shots. Not only is the style of play boring, but the best teams in the league only hit about 40% of 3-pointers. So, if you're team chucks 50, you're watching them miss about 30 shots. So, the rhythm of the game is something like this:
* Run down court.
* Find first open 3.
* Shoot (fans want it to go in).
* Most of the time, miss. (Fans getting annoyed.)
* Other team rebounds, and tries the same thing.
Related to this: I hate iso ball. And there's way too much of it. What I think a lot of fans really want is good, team basketball with great ball movement, competitive play, nice finishes, and intense defense.
there is defense, it’s just less physical and more technical. teams are also trying to win, so 3s are a very effective shot. players were even worse role models in the 90s. karl malone, mj, magic, and ron artest werent good role models.