The 'NBA Is Dying' Crowd Is Very Quiet Today
Over the past decade or so, much has been made about the NBA and its allegedly declining popularity.
TV ratings for games have decreased, while the league remained insanely popular on social media. Some attributed the NBA's declining TV ratings to star players getting political, the "player empowerment movement," tanking and other things. Meanwhile, as the NBA allegedly dropped in popularity, sports like the NFL and college football soared.
These things ebb and flow, though. The NBA dominated much of the sports world in the 1990s, during Michael Jordan's prime, and had a ton of global attention in the 2010s, when LeBron James and Co. were going against the Warriors year in and year out.
Now, the NBA is bouncing back - in a big way.
On Wednesday afternoon, hours before tipoff at Game 4, the league announced that Game 3 of the NBA Finals had the league's best TV ratings in nearly 30 years.
"Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks averaged 23.8 million viewers. The audience peaked with 26.3 million viewers at 11:15 PM EST. It was the most-watched NBA Finals Game 3 in 28 years - since Bulls-Jazz in 1998. Game 3 was also most-watched program across all of TV since the Super Bowl, per Nielsen," Tomer Azarly announced.
The NBA's haters are very quiet today
Where is the "NBA is dying" crowd today?
They're very, very quiet.
The 2026 NBA Finals have been a bit of a perfect storm for hype and attention, of course. The Knicks play in the country's biggest city and haven't won a title since the 1970s. The Spurs, meanwhile, have a global following and are led by a player that should be the next face of the league - if he isn't already.
Regardless, it's clear that the NBA isn't going anywhere.
Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals is scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. E.T.
It'll air on ABC.
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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 5:30 PM.