Outkick founder Clay Travis lashed out at a sports writer for ignoring the NBA “lighting its brand on fire with left wing politics” ahead of the first game of the 2025 NBA Finals on Thursday.
Andrew Marchand, a senior writer covering sports media at The Athletic, made an admission ahead of the 8:30 p.m. ET match up between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers in a post on X.
“I don’t care what the NBA Finals [ratings] are. Watch if you want ... or don’t,” he wrote on Thursday.
Travis, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and influential conservative commentator, shot back at Marchard, claiming that the ratings will be “sh-t” because the NBA brand is.
“Your only job is to cover sports media yet you haven’t been willing to cover this ratings story because you’re a white dude for Harris, like many sports media…,” Travis wrote on X.
In a separate post, Travis added that sports media’s “unwillingness” to cover how “left wing politics” deflated the NBA’s viewership is similar to how political media “refused” to cover former President Joe Biden’s alleged physical and mental decline — as concerns have grown since CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson released a new book detailing his term.
“It’s a clear truth that most see, but they pretend doesn’t exist,” Travis wrote.
Travis, over the last few years, has criticized the NBA for embracing “woke politics,” with many players being especially outspoken during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and Lakers star Lebron James becoming an increasingly influential figure commenting on politics on social media.
Meanwhile, the NBA’s regular season viewership has remained fairly steady in recent years, after reaching its lowest point during the league’s pandemic year in 2021 with 1.39 million viewers, Forbes reported. The NBA’s 2024-25 regular season averaged an audience of 1.53 million — compiling totals from TNT, ESPN and ABC — marking a 2% decline from last season’s 1.56 million viewers.
Other audiences for live sports have recorded decreased viewership, including the same year-over-year drop of 2% for the NFL regular season. The NHL’s average for this year’s regular season had also dropped by 13%.
Some experts have predicted that the final series between the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this year’s MVP, and Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton might draw record-low ratings, given the two teams play in two of the smallest U.S. television markets in the NBA, according to Front Office Sports.
This year’s NBA playoffs were averaging 4.5 million viewers, which is up 3% compared to last year. Las season, the NBA Finals hit its lowest point since 2021, reaching an audience averaging 11.3 million viewers.
Jeff Zillgitt, an NBA reporter for USA TODAY Sports, has encouraged viewers to celebrate and appreciate the game, as both teams have emerged as the best in the league.
“It’s exactly what fans of basketball should want,” he wrote in a column on Thursday. “The NBA is in an era that fans should embrace. It’s not the same teams and same players season after season. It’s not the teams with the deepest pockets getting to the Finals all the time. Young, talented players are exposed to a wider audience.”
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