Tucker Carlson Beats LeBron Playoff Game Head-to-Head

The NBA took another L Thursday night.

Despite 24-hour hype, the LeBron James-led Lakers-Nuggets Conference Finals Game was TKO'ed by Tucker Carlson. The crucial, series-changing Game 4 drew 4.6 million, while a random Thursday episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight brought in 4.74 million.

Remember: this is the Western Conference Finals, with the NBA's premier team, and its biggest individual draw in LeBron.

At this point, Mark Cuban must dig deep for a disingenuous spin-job. Perhaps, he'll see losing to only Carlson a positive trend? Wednesday, both Carlson and Sean Hannity — with his 5.2 million viewers — took it to the NBA playoffs' 4.5 million. Moving in the right direction, Cuban may say.

Since trying to one-up Joy Reid in political misinformation, the NBA ratings have redefined tanking. Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals recorded the lowest Conference Finals viewership in 17 years. The first round of the NBA playoffs fell 27% year-over-year and 40% from two seasons ago, the last time LeBron participated in the playoffs.

Luckily for the NBA, sports media is refusing to cover the collapse in viewership. At ESPN, the ratings beat is merely reserved for when the NFL is down and the NBA is not in the tank.

Check out these lies:

"Is it time for the NFL to panic?"

(The irrelevant Jags-Dolphins game last night squashed the Lakers game, too.)

"Is the NBA on track to surpass the NFL?" If so, the NBA's 45% decline on broadcast TV since 2012 must be a rounding error.

Right now, the NBA playoffs can't even beat a documentary. The number of times a 2020 NBA playoff game has beaten the Last Dance is not a quality number:

*Follow Bobby Burack on Twitter @burackbobby_.