NBA Finals Earns Highest Ratings Since Michael Jordan’s Finals

Photo © Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.

The NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors broke the post-Jordan record for highest viewership, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell.

NBA Finals Earns Highest Ratings Since Michael Jordan

The NBA Finals averaged 19.94 million viewers throughout the six game series, which topples the previous post-MJ record of 18.9 million set in 2001 when Shaquille O’Neal’s Lakers took on Allen Iverson’s 76ers.

It is easy to see why 2015’s NBA Finals is the highest viewed series in years. These teams are in two fairly large markets and also contain two of the hottest athletes, Steph Curry and LeBron James, in the world. Further add the allure of neither city winning for a very long time and it becomes clear why so many people tuned in over the last two weeks.

However, as much as LeBron wants to shed his comparison to Michael Jordan, his finals’ viewership numbers do not come anywhere close to what MJ attracted. In his last final appearance, the 1998 series between the Jazz and Bulls averaged well above 21 million viewers, making it the most watched NBA Finals of all-time.

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Furthermore, James’ finals only averaged 16.1 million viewers — his first finals appearance against the Spurs was the worst of all-time with an average of only 9.3 million viewers — and MJ’s garnered 25.2 million viewers, according to ESPN.

And while more channels and ways to watch it may play a factor into the numbers, nobody can be like Mike.