The ratings for the 2023 NBA All Star Game are in, and the record-low numbers confirm that basketball fans couldn’t care any less about the glorified practice session the annual showcase has become.
For generations of NBA fans, the annual All Star game was a highlight of the season. The elites of the sport would unite behind the banner of their conference like a Marvel team-up against their rivals in the opposite conference. However, those days are long gone.
In today’s NBA, players prioritize health over competition and while that is understandable during a grueling 82-game NBA season, it has had a major effect on fan perception. The NBA All Star game has become the greatest example of this modern-era mindset of current athletes.
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This year’s game between Team Lebron and Team Giannis ended with an absurd final score of 184-175 as players played even less defense than normal, and the lack of effort made the game look like a practice session in-between regular season games.
Unfortunately, this has become the norm for the annual midseason event and it has shown in recent television ratings, with the 2023 NBA All Star Game hitting a new low.
Dayton 500 had nearly twice as many viewers as 2023 NBA All Star Game
On Wednesday it was revealed that the ratings for the 2023 version of the NBA All Star Game were down 27% from last year as the exhibition showcase only averaged 4.6 million viewers for its simulcast on TNT and TBS this past Sunday. The number was also 22% below the previous record low of 5.9 million average viewers in 2021.
Making matters worse, it was nearly half of what NASCAR earned for this year’s Daytona 500 event, which pulled averaged 8.2 million viewers on Sunday.
While NBA All Star Game ratings — and many all-star events for the big four sports — have been trending downward over the past decade, this year’s showing is a stark contrast to the 1992 and 1993 all-star games which averaged over 18 million and 22 million viewers, respectively.
Many NBA analysts ridiculed players for their effort following the game, and Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone proclaimed it the “worst basketball game ever played” after taking part as a coach.