NBA Champion Metta World Peace, Formerly Ron Artest, Calls Out League For Losing Viewers
NBA champion Metta World Peace, the retired player formerly known as Ron Artest, joined OutKick's Hot Mic with Jonathan Hutton and Chad Withrow to discuss the league's issue with reeling in viewers to watch the NBA Playoffs. Despite all of the social initiatives launched by the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver, the league continues to lose viewers.
Hutton, Withrow and Peace agreed that the NBA Finals' luster pales in comparison to previous generations of postseason action. Finals games are no longer appointment television.
The conversation around the Mavericks and Celtics series feels muted, with not enough star appeal or action going on to close out the year.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers cracks a smile during a game against the Charlotte Bobcats on March 5, 2010 at the Time Warner Cable Arena. (Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Big 3 on Hot Mic discussed the NBA's growing issue with needing to win fans back.
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"The players have to take responsibility," Metta World Peace said, speaking on the declining appeal for NBA primetime basketball.
As OutKick founder Clay Travis posted on X this week, this year's Game 1 matchup between Dallas and Boston drew the league's third-lowest total in terms of viewership for a Final series over the past 17 years. Not even the NBA's most vital series of the year bears much appeal with the sports audience, already facing slim to nonexistent competition in the summer sports calendar.
"Are you entertained or not?" Hutton asked MWP. "Chad and I haven't been very entertained."
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Metta World Peace It's On The Nba Players To Get The Fans BackHot Mic With Hutton And Withrow
"Games haven't been close enough so far, which has been the problem," Withrow said as a follow-up.
Peace responded, "Now in terms of viewership, you look at the games when Michael Jordan played, there are more viewed games back then than now. And I think the players, they got to take responsibility."
He added that the apparent opt-outs and "load management" meant to empower players took the momentum out of the NBA in recent years. Both 2020 and 2021 marked all-time lows for the NBA in terms of viewership. With no real name in place to succeed LeBron James as the league's new marketable star, the NBA needs to hit panic mode and figure out a solution for its dwindling television audiences.
"It starts with things like the All-Star game. You can't just blow the fans off. Well, why would a fan want to continue to spend two hours out of their day?" Metta told the Hot Mic hosts.
Peace zeroed in on this year's Finals series.
"Settle in. You know, now it's time to take these games seriously," Peace said, hoping to see more action pick up in the Dallas and Boston Finals series. "It's time to play a lot at the All-Star games; us fans want to see you. I'm a fan. We want to see you, like, get us back. You know, bring us back in.
"Boston's playing a great old-school team type of basketball. Old-school Detroit Pistons pass the ball, moving around like old-school Chauncey Billups."