It's Uncomfortable to Discuss How the NBA Saved Itself in the Mid Aughts

Remember when the NBA was last in a rut?

One nice feature of quitting my old job and running this site is that I get to experience the Christmas season. Sure, when you’re on the NBA circuit, you’re vaguely aware of Christmas, especially if the team you’re covering is playing on Christmas. But you’re also traveling so much that the holiday barely registers as a break from regular life. Halloween might as well be Christmas might as well be MLK Weekend might as well be Wednesday, because every day in the NBA is Wednesday. The NBA just keeps going even when we all take a pause.

And so, as I enjoy Christmas break with the family, I get to check in on how the NBA continues to grapple with its dominant viewership narrative. Obviously I’ve written about this of late, but there have been yet more comments. LeBron James’ blamed 3-pointers. His coach (and former media member) JJ Redick pointed blame at the TV talking heads for denigrating the current product. Redick likely was pointing a finger at Charles Barkley and other retired players for sandbagging the modern game.

If I’m a casual fan and you tell me every time I turn on the television that the product sucks, well, I’m not going to watch the product. And that’s really what has happened over the last 10 to 15 years. I don’t know why. It’s not funny to me.

The tell that it’s probably Barkley is, “It’s not funny to me.” Because who else has been on TV over the last 10 to 15 years, reliably getting laughs at the NBA’s expense?

You know what is funny to me about this particular story? How almost nobody takes a step outside the discourse to discuss the last time the NBA saved itself from a massive decline in domestic interest. You’d think that story would be relevant. There’s this big conversation going on right now about how the hell to reverse the league’s negative trend and almost zero focus on how it happened most recently. In theory, we can learn from history but in practice nobody has much appetite to try.

I’ve got a theory about why we’ve more or less buried this story of the league’s incredible comeback: The success of the last rescue makes people uncomfortable. Some of you know where I’m headed with this.