NBA All-Star Game ratings nearly matched their worst ever

Viewership for last weekend’s NBA All-Star Game was near all-time lows. Just 4.718 million basketball fans tuned in to TNT/TBS/TruTV for the game on Sunday night, per Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel. That number is a 13 percent decrease on the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, which drew 5.398 million viewers.And the numbers get even worse than that.  It was the second-least-watched game in the event’s history, according to Front Office Sports, barely beating out the 2023 game, which had about 4.6 million people watching. The ratings release closes the book on a disastrous All-Star weekend for the league. This year, the league switched the format to a mini-tournament in an attempt to bring back a more competitive nature to the game. In the middle of this year’s game, Warriors star and TNT analyst Draymond Green ripped the new format, calling it “unfair” and “ridiculous.”Just hours before the game, the NBA’s biggest star, LeBron James, announced he would not be playing in the game due to lingering ankle and foot discomfort, a move former NBA All-Stars Green, Jalen Rose and Vince Carter weren’t fans of. The bad reviews prompted the NBA to consider changes for future All-Star weekends just days after this year’s festivities, floating the inclusion of a 1-on-1 tournament. Another one of the game’s biggest names, Kevin Durant, went as far as to say the NBA should scrap the events altogether.Next season, NBA All-Star weekend will be broadcast on NBC after two decades on TNT....