Why the NBA STILL Sucks

Nearly three years ago to the day, I sat down at the keyboard to pen a not-so-love letter titled “Why the NBA Sucks.” The playoffs were about to begin, and as a lifelong fan of basketball and all things sports, I turned to the NBA postseason hoping for inspiration, intensity, and entertainment.

This go around, I found déjà vu. Thirty seconds into a recent playoff game, I was reminded exactly why the NBA has become nearly unwatchable: it’s like showing up at the local park and trying to get invested in a game full of random guys who think they deserve a statue by the picnic tables.

I don’t know why I expected Adam Silver to take my feedback to heart back in 2022. But here we are, and I can confidently say the NBA still sucks. Possibly more than ever.

As the playoffs begin, casual fans and media crawl out of their caves to toss around buzzwords like “Playoff LeBron” and “Playoff Jimmy.” Apparently, the 82-game regular season is just a glorified conditioning program with better camera angles.

Need proof? Numbers don’t lie (at least that’s what the math department taught me at Jacksonville State). In 1999, the NBA averaged 29 million viewers per game. By 2022, that number dropped to 7.45 million. Today? A piss poor 1.4 million. That’s not a decline—it’s an 18-car pile-up. Sunday Night Football outpaces NBA Primetime by a 9:1 margin. If that doesn’t signal a league veering toward irrelevance, what does?

Nobody—and I mean nobody—cares about the regular season anymore. Even sports talk shows barely mention it unless you’re Stephen A. Smith or Kendrick Perkins trying to fill airtime. The Oklahoma City Thunder just wrapped a 68-win season, tying for 5th-best all-time, and finished first in the West. Their star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, missed only three games. And yet, what’s the consensus?

“They won’t make it past the Nuggets. They can’t hang with the Warriors in 7.”

 We’re basically programmed to ignore everything until April. That’s not a basketball season. It’s a seven-month pregame show.

Let’s talk about load management—a term that should be reserved for warehouse workers or expectant mothers, not max-contract athletes. Kawhi Leonard played 68 games this season, and it’s being hailed as an ironman campaign. In 2023, over 40% of All-Stars missed at least 15 games. That used to be a bad break for franchises. Now it’s a résumé booster. The NBA has become the Pro Bowl with fewer fans: flashy moves, zero defense, and fans wondering why they paid $200 a night to watch bench players.

We love to talk about loyalty, usually as a way to guilt players or fans. But how about holding front offices to the same standard? Two playoff-bound teams fired their head coaches with less than five games left in the season. Michael Malone won a championship just two years ago and had Denver poised for another run. Gone. The 2023 Executive of the Year? Shown the door before the King’s postgame presser could even wrap up. And in Dallas, Nico Harrison moved on from franchise cornerstone with Luka. I guess generational talent doesn’t mean much anymore. So when stars bail on teams or fans abandon their allegiances, can you blame them? The league’s own leadership treats loyalty like it’s optional.

The loyalty has trickled down to the fans. NBA jersey sales are down 13% year over year, trailing both the NFL and MLB. And why wouldn’t they be? When players switch teams more often than they change hairstyles, why spend $120 on a jersey from Fanatics that’ll be outdated by next Tuesday?

My Larry Bird jersey still means something. I wear it with pride. James Harden’s Rockets jersey? I’m sure he will be there again after he makes a stop at the Suns, Timberwolves, and Magic.

The NBA today is TikTok basketball…15 seconds of flash, followed by 47 minutes of mediocrity. It’s Instagram Live with a scoreboard. PR teams are outworking the players with the amount of content they are pushing out to try and keep the clicks coming in. The NBA’s social media accounts have millions of followers. Too bad nobody’s tuning in for the actual games.

So, Can This Be Fixed?

Absolutely. The fixes aren’t complex but they do require the league to get serious about the product on the floor. My claims three years ago still hold true to this day. Maybe even more.

1. Shorten the Season

If a team wins 68 games and no one’s watching, did it really happen? Cut the season. Make every game matter. Play each team twice—home and away. Do that, and even Wizards games might get a fan or two to tune in.

2. Create Real Incentives

Want loyalty? Promote it. Want players to suit up regularly? Reward it.. Tie national broadcast eligibility to participation rates. Give teams a reason to care and fans will follow.

3. Institute the Elam Ending

This one is still collecting dust on Adam Silver’s desk. The 2023 All-Star Game had its highest engagement in five years thanks to the Elam Ending. It brings urgency, drama, and strategy. Better than the 30-minute foul parade that closes out most games now. Will this make the league “different”? Absolutely. Does the league need help? Absolutely.

The NBA doesn’t need new apps, camera angles, or hashtag campaigns. It needs to rediscover what made basketball great in the first place: competition, commitment, and love for the game.

I’m not asking for miracles. Just a little defense in January.

Until then, the NBA still sucks. And that’s a stat you can’t spin.