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NBA attendance at its current levels is arguably at an all-time high, but my ambivalence during this season and the precious year’s campaign has resulted in my choice of not watching any NBA broadcast in its entirety.
The league reliably finds its edge in the postseason, but I would be surprised to see any surprises in the first round, where 4-0 best-of-seven series tend to end in 4-0 sweeps, or the 4-1 gentleman’s sweeps.
The lack of regular season urgency, however, is increasingly turning me off each season.
Load management is the biggest rip-off among fans who pay top dollar but face the coin-toss probability the star player(s) they paid a premium to see won’t even be dressed.
Load management is the tail wagging the dog that is the modern NBA calendar.
Benching star players is no longer an exception driven by injury or recovery; it is an accepted strategy. Are teams protecting assets at the sacrifice of regular season competition fans naively hope to see?
From a business or performance standpoint, the logic is clear. From a fan’s perspective - especially one watching a nationally televised game - it is deeply unsatisfying.
When top players tend to be available among only one-third of the scheduled national telecasts, the product suffers. These are the league’s showcase nights designed to widen interest and reward viewers who plan their evenings around marquee matchups. Instead, fans are often met with last-minute rest announcements and lineups looking nothing like the promotional bait.
I’m irritated with this bait and switch, and it’s the biggest driver of my 180-degree turn on NBA viewing frequency.
The association still has plenty of upside.
Athletes are faster, more skilled, and more versatile than ever. But talent, when rationed, loses some of its draw. A regular season feeling like it’s optional in stretches has cheapened the imminent intensity of the first round of NBA playoffs.
The 7-10 seeds who must work their way into the 7th and 8th seeds by winning at least one of two play-in games were relatively exciting in their bubbles, but even these games are like most of the NCAA play-in games resulting in four teams who will be fed to their stronger-seeded lions. Texas was an exception in the NCAA tournament this year, but this is due to the NCAA men’s selection committee getting the play-in assignment wrong.
I’ll return focus on the NBA playoffs, and more specifically, the aforementioned opening round.
In theory, the first round should be a celebration: 16 teams, fresh matchups, and the promise of chaos. In reality, it is often the least engaging part of the postseason. Top seeds, sharpened by experience and depth, roll through opponents who spent the season fighting merely to get in.
The only mystery to me among the top-seeded NBA playoff teams is the Detroit Pistons because although they are physical enough for the postseason evidenced by their regular season performance, they are an incredibly young 60-win squad.
Teams who carefully managed minutes for six months suddenly play stars 42 minutes a night. Defensive intensity spikes overnight. For those who paid at least anywhere from $100 - $400 for a regular season ticket, we feel cheated by an association demonstratively telling us this is when basketball actually counts.
For all of its innovation, global reach, and star power, the league has told its fans to wait. Wait until April. Wait until matchups narrow. Wait until rest days are over.
When the NBA is good, it’s still great. The later playoff rounds routinely deliver brilliance, tension, and career-defining moments. But this year’s and last year’s long regular seasons marked by load management, and a predictable opening playoff with rare surprises in turn leave me with no regret shifting my limited available viewing time toward college basketball – especially THIS season.
The NBA oversells and under-delivers its regular season. Until the regular season regains urgency and the first round regains uncertainty, the NBA will continue to feel like a sport saving its best self for later—asking fans to do the same.
My mind, as a result of the current and previous NBA seasons, is completely blown by the unprecedented attendance levels among the 30 NBA venues.
