The NBA has recently struggled to compete with the big dogs regarding viewership. No other league catches as many strays from pundits (and players) about the decline in ratings and how the game has been diluted in recent years.

The NBA on-court product is not just bad; it’s alarming. After attempting to watch this year’s All-Star game, I’m finally ready to admit it. Ever since they announced the new mini-tournament format, fans and players have voiced their displeasure.

“I hate it,” “Absolutely hate it. Terrible.”

-Kevin Durant in December

“I have no idea what’s going on,” 

-Jaylen Brown on Saturday

None were as profound as Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green. But the spotlight may be the brightest it has ever been after Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green did not mince words during this year’s NBA All-Star weekend. The four-time all-star ripped the league a new one, calling it “boring” while talking with the crew on TNT.

“Every possession is some type of chess move,” Green said. “You don’t get that today in the NBA, often. … You don’t just get that on a regular basis. It’s just who can run faster and can hit more threes; it’s no substance. I think it’s very boring.”

This is a sentiment the late Kobe Bryant shared. During an interview, he called the current game “accidental basketball.”

“It’s all penetrate and pitch,” Bryant said in that interview. “You may make the shot, you may not.”

Green agreed: “He couldn’t have been more right.”

Per Basketball Reference, the league-wide scoring average of 113.4 points per game is the third-highest in the league since adopting the three-point line during the 1979-80 season—only the 2023-24 and 2022-23 seasons were higher. The league, on average, is knocking down 13.4 three-point attempts on an average of 37.5 attempts per game, both of which are the highest marks in league history.

The high point totals sound like a commissioner’s dream, but in the effort to increase scoring, we have watered down the beauty of the game. I’m going to sound like an old man, but back in my day, you had to score from all three levels on the court. Players were more fundamentally sound and attacked strategically and methodically.

When I was a kid, the NBA was the cool league. The theme music for the NBA on NBC still gives me goosebumps. Hip-hop culture, fashion, and Air Jordan sneakers fueled fan interest in the 90’s. Michael Jordan helped grow the league into a global phenomenon with the success of the “Dream Team” in 1992. He retired in 1993 but came back in 1995. The 1995-1996 season coincides with some of the most-watched games in the last 30 years.

Jordan and the Bulls were the face of the league again, driving revenue and drawing record crowds during their “Last Dance” season in 1998. To this day, the highest-rated and most-watched NBA Finals was between the Bulls and Jazz in 98′. It is now 2025, ladies and gentlemen. A 2023 study revealed that viewership is down close to half from the Jordan-era peak in the 1995-96 season (2.9). Yet nearly all of the league’s drop-off in viewership post-Jordan happened more than two decades ago.

According to the Sports Business Journal, national NBA viewership is down five percent compared to this past season, though the numbers seemed to be trending upward. This is partly due to a wild NBA trade deadline that saw Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis get traded.

A $76 million media and broadcast rights deal suggests the league is doing fine overall. Fan interest is still intact, but it may have some work to do with the basketball purists (like myself) and even their players to who they cut a check.