It may not be the NBA Finals matchup that fans and advertisers had hoped for, but the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets are the last two teams standing.
The 2023 NBA Finals will be the second time in 13 years that LeBron James, Steve Curry, or both will not play in an NBA championship.
Instead, the spotlight will be directed towards Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets and Jimmy Butler of the Heat.
Regardless of the outcome of the NBA Finals, the 2023 playoffs were a huge success for the league. In fact, the 2023 NBA Playoffs will be the most watched on ESPN platforms since 2012. This year’s postseason averaged 4.7 million viewers per game across ABC/ESPN, TNT and NBA TV platforms, making it the most watched playoffs Watch at 11 years old. .
The Heat vs Celtic Game 7 averaged nearly 12 million viewers Monday night, marking TNT’s most watched Finals ever in the Eastern Conference.
While the 2023 NBA Playoffs have quietly become one of the most watched editions, there are still doubts and doubts about the lack of star power in the Finals, which could affect TV ratings.
Watch the 2023 NBA Playoffs
Questions still surround the two finalists over whether the showdown could hurt the ratings on ABC.
Last year, the Finals between Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics averaged 12.4 million viewers. In 2022, viewership is up 22% compared to the Milwaukee Bucks vs. Phoenix Suns in 2021.
Based on current numbers, viewership for the 2023 NBA Finals should increase. Through the first 31 games, the NBA Playoffs averaged 5.579 million viewers on the ESPN platform, up 9% from last year.
However, Jokic vs Butler isn’t quite as big as LeBron James or Steph Curry, and the big names matter, especially when it comes to TV ratings.
The Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat have the 16th and 18th largest U.S. television markets, respectively.
The size of the small TV market made some people wonder about the Finals match. Fox Sports radio host Doug Gottlieb said he thought the Nuggets vs Heat would be “pointless”.
Are the finals worth watching?
Although the Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers game would have reignited the league’s longest-running rivalry, ESPN expert Mike Breen believes this performance for the Finals with the Heats and Nuggets could generate the best pure basketball in years.
The Denver Nuggets are different and the Finals will feature two-time MVP Jokic after he just swept James and the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
According to LeBron, the Nuggets are the best team he’s played in the past four years as a Los Angeles Laker player. That alone speaks volumes about how good Nikola Jokić and his company are. With the addition of Aaron Gordon, the team has turned into an absolute competitive nightmare.
Even without a few of the league’s biggest stars, the 2023 NBA Finals will still be worth watching, thanks to some interesting facts about both the Nuggets and Heat.