Commissioner Adam Silver gets real about why people focus on ratings instead of appreciating great NBA Finals

One of the most talked-about challenges facing the modern NBA is the noticeable decline in TV ratings. Fewer people are sitting down to watch full regular season games, opting instead for highlights or brief recaps — or skipping them altogether. Commissioner Adam Silver is well aware of this ongoing shift in viewer behavior and consumption habits.

Silver is calling out a trend that continues to overshadow the brilliance happening on the court: an obsession with television ratings. As the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers battle for their first-ever championship, Silver urges both fans and the media to stop fixating on the numbers and focus instead on the high-quality basketball taking place. Ahead of Game 2 of the 2025 NBA Finals, Silver addressed the persistent ratings chatter that seems to trail the league year-round.

“I think about it a lot. I mean, on one hand, I’m looking at Mike Bass, our Head of Communications, and I like the fact that people are talking about us. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. It seems a little unusual how much discussion there is around ratings in this league,” Silver said. “Again, as I said, I’m a fan of all sports and I follow lots of media, and it seems like there’s a lot more chatter.”

“And even for me, just walking down the street, fans often come up to me and it frustrates me that the first thing they say is, ‘How are the ratings?’ or ‘What are the ratings going to be?’ as opposed to, ‘Wow, you just had two incredible Conference Finals. What a great playoff series you’ve had.’ So I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Silver added.

He has a point. While the narrative of a supposed ratings “collapse” continues to echo across sports talk shows and social media, the numbers tell a more complex and encouraging story. The 2025 Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and New York Knicks averaged 7 million viewers — a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

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Overall, the NBA Playoffs are up three percent in viewership across ABC, ESPN, and TNT. More importantly, the league’s digital footprint is surging. Through the Conference Finals, the NBA registered a record 32 billion social media views, a 62 percent increase from last year. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander alone has generated an eye-popping 864 million views during the postseason, leading all players.

Silver also acknowledged that part of this ratings fixation may stem from nostalgia. For decades, the Finals spotlight belonged to teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, or Golden State Warriors — franchises based in legacy markets with massive fan bases. That era shaped expectations for what the Finals should look like in terms of star power and market size.

Now, with Oklahoma City and Indiana — two so-called “small-market” teams — stealing the show, some fans and commentators are quick to question the series’ legitimacy in terms of reach rather than appreciate the elevated level of competition. But for Silver and the NBA, the story of 2025 is about embracing new stars and new narratives — not clinging to the past.