The 2024-2025 National Basketball Association season has shown a massive decrease in viewership ratings. Daily viewers of games were seemingly rare throughout the first four months of the season. Fans across the globe have complained about unnecessary rule changes, increased costs for premium products and the lack of meaningful games during the regular season. Some fans even predicted that this was the “beginning of the end for the NBA.” However, the NBA trade deadline has single-handedly saved the NBA as we know it.
For those who are unfamiliar with the NBA or professional sports in general, the majority of professional sports associations have “trade deadlines.” This deadline is the last day teams of their respective leagues are allowed to execute trades with other teams, whether it’s a player-for-player trade or a trade consisting of capital for the draft, which is when teams draft rookies from college or other global leagues. NBA teams were first allowed to trade with one another in Jan. of 1947. Ever since then, fans have been obsessed with the idea of potential trades.
One of the key reasons why fans of the NBA have been so fascinated with the idea of trades is the fact that there’s a possibility that their favorite players can play together. Take the recent “block-buster” trade between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks, for example. This trade consisted of the Lakers sending Superstar Anthony Davis, along with another player and draft capital to the Mavericks for 25-year-old phenom Luka Doncic and two other key bench players. This trade sent the NBA community into a frenzy! Doncic, who many believe to be a top three to top five basketball player in the world, is now playing with who many consider to be the greatest basketball player ever, LeBron James.
This trade showed instant results in NBA viewership, as Luka Doncic’s first game with the Lakers averaged two million viewers nationwide on ESPN, which was a six hundred thousand viewer increase compared to the average view count of nationally televised games last season.
When asked for his opinion on trades, Sophomore Basketball Player at McHenry High School Nathan Ottoway further expressed his excitement for trades in the NBA.
“It’s very exciting,” Ottoway states. ”I love to see big players play in New Jersey’s with other good players.”
Another key factor contributing to NBA fans’ love for trades is the fact that they are now able to watch practically new teams play, more specifically their favorite teams. Fans create conspiracies throughout the duration of the season on who should be traded and who should be acquired by their favorite teams. They want to see change. They want to see how other players would fit alongside the players on their favorite teams. This desire for changes creates buzz around an NBA organization, therefore attracting a larger audience to their product. For example, if you were to search up a fan page of your favorite NBA team, it is almost guaranteed that there will be a post relating to a player that should be traded or acquired. Fans need change in order to stay invested in their team.
A common reason fans would be against trades in the NBA is the fact that they don’t want to see their favorite players leave their favorite team. While that point is completely understandable, no change in roster could result in a lack of excitement associated with a team. Teams need to trade players, not only for the teams’ benefits, but for the fans’ benefits as well. Fans can become drawn to new players traded to their favorite teams, which creates an increased level of attention paid by fans to an organization’s games.
With the NBA deadline officially in the rear-view mirror, it is now time for fans to embrace the change and enjoy the new product existing within the NBA. Fans can now speculate what trades will happen in the off-season and in the next NBA season, while still enjoying the current state of basketball. It is safe to say that the league is in its best position as a result of the 2024-2025 NBA trade deadline.