How come white players like Jokic and Luka don’t translate to increased viewership and ratings for the NBA?

[Regular_P]

Article I read pointed out that Luka is only top 5 seller without a ring.

Joker's game is not highlight friendly, like Luka, but league and franchise makes a lot of money from them

Mavs and Nuggets are in top ten for home attendence numbers

2024-2025 NBA Attendance - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Find out the 2024-2025 attendance numbers for every NBA team.

www.espn.com

I don't think race really matters to NBA fans. The leading jersey sellers and All-Star vote getters have been dominated by black players for as long as anyone can remember. The most popular players are generally athletically exciting or doing things we've never seen before.

Bird hasn't played in over 30 years. Basically, half this board probably wasn't even alive the last time a white, American player was a cultural icon. Fans didn't really care when Kevin Love was putting up 26/13 in Minnesota because the team was bad and he wasn't exciting to watch.

The last really popular white American was Jason Williams.

Now, if Mac McClung could actually play, he'd be in that Ja Morant lane where every kid would love him because seeing a player at that size playing above the rim is alien-like. Those guys are always popular. Everyone loved Nate Robinson. If that play when he swatted Yao happened today, it'd dominate social media for a week straight and be meme'd forever.

 

[Regular_P]

Casual fans don’t care about college basketball unless it’s March. College basketball doesn’t create stars anymore

And when you consider that the top recruits only stay for one year, that just adds on to it.

I do agree with the premise though that Luka, Jokic, Giannis, Embiid would be bigger in America if they were American

If they're dominant in college, it can still matter, but they have to dominate. The college game and coaches repress a lot of these guys.

 

[jadillac]

They aren’t american. Look what the American cac Mclung just did.

This was bound to happen.

He's the first white boy to ever really win it. Brent Barry won but that dunk was rehashed and unoriginal

 

[Hey_zeus]

Would Bird have been a draw without Magic and being in Boston? 79' NCAA title game is still the most viewed basketball game ever for a reason. There must be conflict to bring in casuals. Bird vs Magic. Glitzy LA vs Blue Collar Boston. Black vs white. But ultimately it was the clash that brings cacs out. Plus these Euros aren't characters like say McGregor. Please don't lie and say cacs don't see McGregor as white. Theres a lot at play here. But give it time. The media is currently trying to crown these two. They'll be accepted soon.

 

[Cadillac]

I’m saying that every Jokic and Luka thread has keyboard militants in there talking about cac this cac that. The white media just wanna crown them and minimize black athletes talk

Take coli e-militancy seriously brehs

 

[CrimsonTider]

Take coli e-militancy seriously brehs

I don’t, it’s just crazy to be in a thread discussing Jokic and a retarded Coli breh is spamming fukk that cac we only root for black players

 

[SchoolboyC]

Ja Morant Zion?

The fact you had to go back four drafts to pull someone should say it all

 

[CrimsonTider]

The fact you had to go back four drafts to pull someone should say it all

I was naming stars

 

[MrLogic]

Gonna keep NBA don't got pull like that....anymore

 

[Nero Christ]

Funny enough Europeans are a lot more accepting (or have had more time to accept the fact) of foreigners being at the top of Club football than Americans are of the same happening in their respective sports.

 

[In The Zone '98]

Two players mentioned aren't above the rim and don't have rings to draw people in to see what they do next.

 

[Flex Grossman]

The nba has made zero attempt at marketing jokic. I don’t think jokic has any interest in being marketed either.

 

[who_better_than_me]

Two small market teams who haven't won anything. Bron and Steph both still the faces of the league. What stories are there to tell except they both are having good seasons? It's gonna be even funnier when Jokic wins 3 MVP's and casuals still really won't know who he is.

I don’t think markets really matter. Cleveland or Oakland weren’t thought of as big markets for the nba before those two arrive. Star power is star power and it’s subjective.

 

[CrimsonTider]

I don't think race really matters to NBA fans. The leading jersey sellers and All-Star vote getters have been dominated by black players for as long as anyone can remember. The most popular players are generally athletically exciting or doing things we've never seen before.

Bird hasn't played in over 30 years. Basically, half this board probably wasn't even alive the last time a white, American player was a cultural icon. Fans didn't really care when Kevin Love was putting up 26/13 in Minnesota because the team was bad and he wasn't exciting to watch.

The last really popular white American was Jason Williams.

Now, if Mac McClung could actually play, he'd be in that Ja Morant lane where every kid would love him because seeing a player at that size playing above the rim is alien-like. Those guys are always popular. Everyone loved Nate Robinson. If that play when he swatted Yao happened today, it'd dominate social media for a week straight and be meme'd forever.

For all that we here about euro being a higher level of basketball compared to college how come Euro league never produces small players?

 

[Nero Christ]

For all that we here about euro being a higher level of basketball compared to college how come Euro league never produces small players?

Europe especially Eastern Europe tends to produce the tallest people on Earth