The NBA this weekend begins its slate of Saturday primetime games on ABC, with Lakers-Rockets at 8:30pm ET following a special matinee edition of the series showcasing Thunder-76ers on ESPN at 3:30pm. This marks the fourth season for “NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC,” which saw year-over-year viewership growth in ’18. It drew an average of 3,388,000 viewers across eight games last season, up 15% from 2,948,000 viewers in ‘17. THE DAILY recently caught up with ESPN’s Jalen Rose to preview this weekend’s action and talk about how the primetime games help the league.
SATURDAY SUN: The NBA in past seasons faced issues of teams resting star players in big primetime slots, but that seems to be a thing of the past now. Rose gives the credit to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, pointing to scheduling changes Silver initiated to ensure better player availability in front of national audiences. The NBA this season has scheduled nine top matchups over the next eight Saturdays, and Rose said players “absolutely” think of the primetime slots differently and “want to go out and put on a show.” Televising the games on ABC makes a difference, too. “People know the difference between network and cable,” he said. “It creates a heightened level of enthusiasm and emotion.”
LOOKING GOOD: Rose believes the NBA overall is in a “terrific space” right now with plenty of great storylines to follow this season. While ratings overall were down to start the season, Rose does not think that will be a long-term trend or hurt the league moving forward. “When you look at the popularity of NBA players … they trump players from every other major sports league,” Rose said. “That says a lot about the growth of the sport.”
SECOND TIME'S THE CHARM: The NBA will televise the All-Star Draft Feb. 7 on TNT after taking criticism for not airing the proceedings last year. However, Rose thinks not initially televising the selections may have been a smart move. “Everybody knew it was going to be on TV eventually,” he said. “But you do it the first time, get all of the kinks out, create the anticipation and then now you put it on television for everybody to watch.” He said the selection show should “create a lot of interest” for the game and be a “great conversation piece and great for social media as it relates to the viewership that it’s going to get.”
