Wannabe Cool Kid Ryen Russillo Blames 'Right Wingers' For Talk Of NBA Ratings Decline

Ryen Russillo really wants the NBA Bros to know he's on the right side of the culture war.

This week, he defended his favorite league during a podcast discussion with Big Cat and PFT Commenter, blaming the topic of depressed NBA ratings on "disingenuous" right-wingers.

"A lot of the ratings decline stuff is driven by people’s political beliefs. If you’re really right wing, you love the idea of the NBA being a dying product because it’s probably the most progressive of the leagues," Russillo said.

"What I don’t like is disingenuous arguments. I would tell you people that are like in the TV game, the people making these decisions that I’ve talked to, investing into live rights, are like, ‘Who the fuck is using traditional ratings anymore?’"

He's referring to us, of course.

Last month, Russillo and Bill Simmons called out OutKick, Clay Travis and me over our coverage of the NBA ratings. The two pompous Los Angeles men asked me to write a new article about the NBA ratings.

Listen below:

Per their request, I did. Here's the story.

Update: The NBA playoffs are up 3%, and the regular season was down 2%. Check back next week for an update on the upcoming Thunder-Pacers Finals.

See, Russillo just wants the cool kids of sports media to accept him. Interestingly, he worked with those cool kids at ESPN. They didn't like him. He wasn't cool enough to hang with people like Bomani Jones, Dan Le Batard, and Mina Kimes.

So be it.

His analysis of the coverage of the NBA ratings is also misleading.

I was the first national writer to report on the NBA's ratings decline in 2019 at a website called The Big Lead. My coverage triggered NBA fanboys, like J.A. Adande and Bomani. Nonetheless, the crux of my criticism was how people like Russillo spent years discussing the NFL's declines but not the NBA's.

Moreover, the NBA's declines were far more significant than the NFL's. The NFL had a Colin Kaepernick problem. The NBA's problems were and remain much broader.

Notably, four of the five lowest-rated NBA Finals of the last 30 years have occurred in the past four years. Pacers-Thunder could add to that streak, starting on Thursday.

What's more, notice how Russillo blames the entire discussion about the NBA ratings on "right-wingers." What about the "left-wingers" who call out conservatives every time the NBA sees minimal gains, like he did to OutKick last month?

Seems pretty political, no?

Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo. (Credit: The Ringer)

Also, nearly every sports and news outlet covered the NBA ratings earlier this season. It wasn't just the conservative-leaning outlets. 

Before the league manipulated the year-over-year ratings on Christmas Day (more on that here), the NBA was down nearly 30% compared to 2024. The drop was so significant that The New York Times, Washington Post, CNBC, Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, and even Bill Simmons covered it.

Not exactly a group you'd find inside a Trump rally, is it?

Russillo also offered a weak defense of the NBA, during his discussion with Barstool. 

"It’s not the NFL. It’s not perfect. You want to compare it to the 90s?" he said. "Alright, let’s do it with the NBA. It looks terrible. You want to do it with any other fucking TV show from the 90s? I’m telling you right now, it’s probably going to look bad when you start comparing sitcoms to Friends."

Luckily, we aren't comparing the NBA to the 1990s. We are comparing it to previous years. Other leagues like the NFL and MLB are up compared to previous seasons. The NBA in America is the only league that continues to lose viewers every season. 

In fact, MLB is up double digits so far this year.

It sure seems like Russillo let his emotions get the best of him here. Hopefully, his efforts at least land him an invitation to a few Finals after-parties this week.