Shaquille O'Neal why NBA viewership is declining
Shaquille O'Neal why NBA viewership is declining
By Edcel Panganiban December 02, 2024 08:21
Over the past few decades, the NBA usually had a leg up over the other three major sports leagues in North America. It globalized a sport unlike any other and had a lot of fans flying into different arenas just to watch their players. However, the same cannot be said at the turn of the 2020s. Apparently, the league is on pace to get lower viewers over time and Shaquille O'Neal may know why.
Shaquille O'Neal has seen so many eras of the NBA already. He saw the rise of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird all the way to Nikola Jokic becoming the most dominant force in the league. So, his opinion may hold weight when it comes to this matter. Despite the controversial nature of the take, many agree with the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat legend's way of going about this viewership decline.
“It’s down because we’re looking at the same thing. Everybody is running the same plays…Steph Curry and those guys messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team isn’t a 3-point shooter. So why everybody has the same strategy? I think it makes the game boring," the legend declared.
He even added that the shift should start from the players and coaches instead of the NBA enforcing harsher rules:“ The game has already been perfect ever since Naismith created it. This new era of humans f***ed it up… Golden State came in and changed it and you made a great point, it’s a copycat league. Everybody wants to be Steph Curry, but everybody’s not Steph Curry and that’s why viewership is down. But these dudes, they need to wake up because if viewership is down, the money is gonna come down.”
Do you agree with Shaq?