NBA's claim of 'most-watched conference finals in 24 years' is misleading because of broadcast changes

The NBA is still misleading the public with deceptive press releases touting its 2026 playoff viewership.

This week, the league claimed the Spurs-Thunder series was the "most-watched conference finals in 24 years," averaging 10.8 million viewers per game across NBC and Peacock.

Twenty-four years, huh?

For context, the last time the NBA aired conference finals games on NBC was in 2002 — exactly 24 years ago.

Since then, conference finals broadcasts have aired primarily on cable, either ESPN or TNT.