When podcaster Van Lathan heard about the sports-betting and poker indictments that ensnared two active NBA figures last fall, it didn’t make him want to stop watching the NBA.
In fact, just the opposite. Lathan, who hosts shows about sports and culture on The Ringer, previously had little interest in the Portland Trail Blazers. But when the team’s head coach, Chauncey Billups, was arrested by the FBI on the second day of the NBA season and accused of working with the Mafia, Lathan wanted to know how the team would react. So he tuned in that night.
He wasn’t alone. In the days after the arrests, the NBA had its most-watched opening week since 2017. Viewership the night the FBI held its news conference was 60% higher than for the previous year. The league announced that Billups and Terry Rozier, the player involved, had been placed on leave, and then resumed promoting its new season.