[Woj] Anthony Davis traded to Lakers

Bucks thread wouldn’t be the same without you.

 

Everyone was gonna quit once the South Beach Heat were formed
Then they were gonna quit once the Hampton Five Warriors were formed
and I even said I would quit when they hired Mike D'Antoni

Lakers would just be the new Warriors, fans and all.

"No one is beating this Heat team."
"No one is beating this Warriors team."
"No one is beating this Lakers team."

At least you can say LerBon is getting older, Davis has his share of injuries & Kawhi needs load management.
But watch out once they get to the postseason.

Would suck for sure but I cant quit it. I keep coming back.

Would Morey still say Rockets are favorites in the West & the West runs through Houston?

 

"They ain't even that good"

 

remember when everyone was freaking out over the kobe/nash/howard/gasol/artest team?

 

None of these teams had 3 perennial MVP candidates who were in most ppl's top 5 players lists.
If anyone but Kawhi or KD joins the Lakers I could tolerate it.
Even worse its in the Lakers. At least the Warriors and Heat had normal fans in the beginning, the Lakers are already the most arrogant and obnoxious fanbase which are constantly getting bootlicked by the media even when they were tanking.

No need to follow such a league that has become such a joke at this point.
When this disgusting team breaks up then I can come back after.

 

bye

 

Lol

 

Duplicate

 

To all those saying people aren’t quitting the NBA, I think they certainly aren’t as interested now as they were in the past. National and local broadcast ratings have both decreased. Finals ratings are at decade low.

I personally have quit all nba except the Rockets. What’s the point of watching when the only important thing is off season and injuries?

 

They'll get the ratings back with LeBron and the Lakers becoming major championship contenders again. Nobody likes to admit it, but super teams and super stars are what the people want to see. They missed that this season with no LeBron and a busted Warriors team. The lottery results confirmed that the Lakers would be rebuilt and LeBron reinserted into championship relevancy.

The NBA isn't all about ratings anymore anyway. People pay attention to the NBA off the court and in the off season more than ever and more than any other league. I'm sure they'll find a way to monetize the soap opera aspect of the NBA if they aren't already.

 

No matter what team LeBron goes too, other teams seem to bend over backwards so he gets his way

 

Maybe. Maybe not.

The last 4 Finals (previous to 2019) all featured Lebron with the Cavs, and ratings dropped incrementally each year. Therefore, the whole "Lebron absence" perspective on lower ratings is a little bit suspect to me. While it may have some validity, such is an untestable hypothesis given other confounding factors such as Superteam fatigue. And honestly if the Lebron absence hypothesis were true, it's probably a worse prognostic sign for the NBA in the long-term.

I don't see strong evidence that superteams are what the viewers want to see. Superteams (at least those formed by free agency) have been more and more prevalent since 2010, and ratings have largely stagnated. In fact, I would argue that there is only an initial spike in interest, as seen in 2010 and 2015. It then wanes over the next few years as people stop caring.

Contrast this to the Jordan-era, when he was the transcendental global icon. Ratings were sky high, and with each subsequent championship, ratings went up - not down. People wanted to see Jordan win, and didn't tire of his winning like they do with the Warriors. Perhaps what is needed is one universally beloved global ambassador of the NBA, which Lebron does not appear to be. And it's honestly unclear if anyone can be nowadays with media over-exposure.


I also disagree that ratings aren't the end all be all for the NBA. I think they are. Perhaps the effect is indirect, but the prosperity and stability of the NBA rests on views. When 2024 comes and ESPN/TNT are negotiating a new TV deal, I don't think they will overpay for a product that generates mediocre national interest. And if the NBA tries to move to a PPV model, then ratings are again the end all be all. The same is true for local TV deals, which see a drop-off in interest with the presence of superteams. If you live in Orlando, Cleveland, Atlanta or any of the bottom feeding teams, why would you waste time with a team that has no chance whatsoever of brining home a title?

 

You should have quit when Durant went to GSW

 

They will overpay because live content and lead-ins are still loss leaders in the digital era.

Any other network will want 2 hrs of live programming for the 18-35 demo, so that competition (or race from the bottom) will be enough not to "lose out".

Disney may be a media juggernaut, but they're definitely spooked about ESPN tanking even more. It's gone from cash cow to lambs to the slaughter...

 

Man, Kawhi you are better than that. At least defend your title! Sign for 1 year or 1 + 1. With Anthony Davis and Klay part of Space Jam 2, it would be really funny and almost too coincidental if Klay ends up signing with the Lakers.

 

...as he dies a little every day

 

ESPN business model is dying. By 2024-25, even if they wanted to overpay for the NBA, I don't think they would be able to shell out another 24 billion for broadcasting rights. Cord cutting seems to be picking up pace, and the market simply can't financially sustain a bloated NBA product in another 5-6 years.

If the NBA was pulling NFL or even Jordan-era viewers, then I can see some other networks pitching in for a piece of the pie. But when the average regular season TNT or ESPN game pulls in less views than Tucker Carlson and Property Brothers, there's not much to negotiate on.

For instance, I just pulled up cable viewership numbers for a random date, Feb 26th.
Golden State/Portland - 1.6 M
Houston/Minnesota - 1.4 M
Tucker Carlson - 3 M
Property Brothers - 1.5 M

The league simply isn't as popular as they like to think they are.

 

Windhorst: They want Kawhi or Kyrie. If not one of those two, they'll probably break it up. I'd include Klay Thompson in the gray area. No one believes he'll leave Golden State. It's Kawhi or Kyrie.

 

u need to remember that these are TV ratings,

they don't include viewing via the smart phones,
which many people do.

​

iirc,

the TV ratings for this past Olympics declined as well; many millennials thru out the world watch it on their smart phones,
which are not reflected in the TV ratings​