Luka To The Lakers Is The Shot In Arm The NBA Has Long Needed | Bobby Burack

By the end of 2024, the NBA's ratings declines had become so notable that even the biggest fanboys in the media acknowledged them – from ESPN to the New York Times, from the Washington Post to CNBC.

At one point this season, NBA viewership on ESPN had declined more than 28 percent year over year. Most notably, four of the five lowest-rated NBA Finals of the past 30 years have occurred in the past four years.

There is no one specific reason for the NBA's precipitous drop in popularity. Politics played a role. As OutKick previously argued, the NBA was the original Bud Light. Load management – as in players skipping work simply to rest – has damaged the integrity of the regular season. Painting "Black Lives Matter" on the court didn't help. The transition to a less physical, more three-point-oriented style of play has proven less entertaining.

Ultimately, the league hasn't had much to offer in terms of excitement on the court over the past few seasons. Rumors and drama are great for social media fodder, but viewership trends have shown that buzz on X rarely translates to viewership on television.

Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)

However, the recent trade in which the Dallas Mavericks sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers could be the exact shot in the arm the league has so desperately needed. 

For the first time in nearly a decade, there's interest in how a storyline will play out on the court.

Will the Mavericks forever rue the day they parted ways with a 25-year-old generational superstar? Can Luka coexist with LeBron James? Can Luka, next to LeBron, grow into the type of player that even LeBron could envy? Will Luka vindicate the Mavericks' decision by wasting his God-given talent on Cheetos and soda pop? 

To sports fans, those questions are far more riveting than LeBron's thoughts on political topics he doesn't understand and whether Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich have appropriately atoned for their whiteness.

Don't take it from us.

The NBA finally has a positive ratings story to tell (one that doesn't require a dishonest spin like the Christmas Day viewership). Luka's Lakers debut on Monday averaged 2.01 million viewers on ESPN, a 42 percent increase over the NBA's average on ESPN last season, and peaked at more than 2.5 million.

For context, the game didn't start until 10:30 pm ET and was a blowout (the Lakers defeated the Jazz, 132-113). People stayed up and kept watching.

LUKA DONCIC LAKERS

Now, it's up to the NBA and its media lackeys not to turn this positive momentum into a negative. Why would they do that? In simple terms, Luka is white. The sports media has a vivid track record for mucking up momentum when a white player is at the center.

Caitlin Clark was a gift to the WNBA, leading the league to heights never accomplished before. Yet ESPN spent months accusing fans of only supporting Clark because she is white in a majority-black league.

Likewise, the press turned Nikola Jokic's epic chase for three straight MVPs in 2023 into a race war because racially-triggered buffoons like Kendrick Perkins couldn't stand seeing a white player succeed.

Already, the race clowns have tried tying Luka's trade to a story about race.

"Perhaps the Lakers felt that because they did James a solid by drafting his son, Bronny, they didn’t need to bring him into the Doncic transaction. Or perhaps because it means that Doncic, a young white superstar, will replace James as the Lakers’ main draw," William C. Rhoden wrote.

Wait, what does Luka's skin color have to do with anything?

Nothing. Stop that. Let fans enjoy the ride. Don't make the story about race unless, you know, there is an actual reason to bring up race.

Don't mess this up, NBA. 

And don't let Mark Jones call any games featuring Luka. We get it, Mark. You married a white woman and Black Twitter doesn't like you for it. Stop overcompensating by targeting Jokic and Luka.

Perkins, sit this one out.

Stephen A., there are better ways to secure $20 million a year than race grifting.

The NBA media is going to blow this, isn't it?