As the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers prepare to battle in this season’s climax, experts are predicting some of the lowest NBA Finals ratings in recent memory.
2025 NBA Playoff Ratings Increased Year-on-Year
Bucking the worrying trend of falling TV viewership throughout the regular season, the 2025 NBA playoff ratings have actually jumped year-on-year.
The final game of the NBA on TNT bowed out with aplomb, as Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Pacers and Knicks drew an average of 8.12 million people.
It was the most-watched game of the playoffs so far this season, and was a fitting end to an overall trend of gradually increasing viewership in the postseason. An average of 4.5 million viewers is up 3 percent from last year.
Lowest NBA Finals Ratings Predicted For Thunder vs Pacers
For all the NBA’s positive work in getting viewers back in front of the screen, the season’s curtain call is expected to have the opposite effect.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers have some of the smallest TV markets in the league.
Indianapolis is 23rd of 29 US NBA teams — excluding Toronto — while Oklahoma City is 47th in the US and only ahead of New Orleans and Memphis in the NBA.
History shows that NBA Finals between two smaller television markets typically draw shrunken audiences.
Excluding years affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the lowest NBA Finals rating since the turn of the century came in 2007. The San Antonio Spurs, ranked 31st in the US, played opponents the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are down in 19th. An average of 9.29 million tuned in to watch that year, compared to the highest of the century in 2017 where over 20 million people sat down to watch.
Although MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder have blown away the rest of the league in spectacular fashion this season, their pull is simply not as strong as the league’s more intriguing storylines.
The Thunder’s five-game Western Conference series against the Timberwolves was down 17% from last year, thanks in no small part due to most of the games being blowouts.
Lowest NBA Finals Ratings Since 2000
Note: Excludes years affected by the pandemic.
2007: San Antonio Spurs vs Cleveland Cavaliers (9.29 million)
2003: San Antonio Spurs vs New Jersey Nets (9.86 million)
2024: Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks (11.3 million)
Thunder Heavily Favored to Win Against the Pacers
Putting the smaller TV markets aside, one of the obvious factors as to why most fans may choose to skip the 2025 NBA Finals is its air of inevitability.
Although the Pacers have shown themselves to be an unstoppable force in the postseason, the Thunder are widely expected to cap off one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history with a championship.
According to Sports Odds History, the match-up is the sixth-most lopsided Finals in history, with the Thunder entering as -750 favorites.
