Study: Star Players Sit Out Majority Of NBA National TV Games

Various metrics suggest the NBA has slipped below both MLB and college basketball in popularity. One reason for the league’s decline is the frequency with which star players sit out nationally televised games.

This week, Yahoo columnist Tom Haberstroh examined how many star players have missed TV games this season. He defined a "star player" as someone with an All-NBA or All-Star appearance in one of the last three seasons. Using that definition, he found that just 32.7 percent of nationally televised games featured a full complement of star players.

"Said another way: About two out of three national TV games will have at least one star player in street clothes," he explained.

Haberstroh also broke down star participation by network, suggesting that players are more likely to play through so-called injuries on ABC than on Peacock.

"According to the Yahoo Sports study, in nine of the exclusively Peacock non-NBC games with stars on both sides, only one featured all the stars, a full-star percentage of 11 percent. But for ABC games, which are on Disney’s biggest network platform, the full-star percentage checked in at 43 percent, more than triple that of Peacock. ABC’s full-star percentage was the highest of the channels," Haberstroh reported.

Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James shoots a three over Clippers All-Star Kawhi Leonard at Crypto.com Arena. 

(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

Awful Announcing added in a follow-up report that only one of the NBA’s top 25 scorers this season has played in every game: Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle. Only four others have even crossed the 70-game mark: Kevin Durant, Jamal Murray, Jalen Brunson, and Brandon Ingram.

Worse, teams often wait until shootaround to announce the absence of star players, long after fans have already purchased tickets. In the process, the NBA has effectively disincentivized buying tickets early.

This trend comes as the NBA asks fans to pay more to watch regular-season games. Under the league’s new 11-year broadcast agreements, games now air on ESPN, NBC, Peacock, and Amazon Prime, with the latter two requiring paid monthly subscriptions in addition to cable.

Injuries are unavoidable in any sport. But there is a difference between legitimate injury and choosing to rest for minor aches because the game carries little importance.

(Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

According to Haberstroh, star availability has dropped from about 80 percent last season to around 60 percent this year.

"Chances are, if you want to watch the big game, and you actually want to see all the stars playing, you won’t be in luck," he added.

The NBA does not have an injury problem. It has a participation problem. Players do not value the regular season because 20 teams now reach postseason play through the Play-in Tournament. Further, rest is more of a competitive advantage than seeding entering the playoffs.

Put bluntly, the NBA is asking fans to pay to watch games, in person and at home, that star players do not consider important enough to play.

And fans have responded by watching and attending less, while other sports organizations thrive.