NBA Commissioner Addresses On-Court Finals Decals

On Wednesday, during Game 3 of the 2025 Finals, commissioner Adam Silver talked about the state of the Finals courts and the lack of decals.

“I’ve seen some of the chatter about on-court decals, people don’t realize they went away a decade ago, because there were claims that… some of the players said it was slippery when we had the decals on the floor. So, we’re back to adding them virtually,” Silver said.

Silver didn’t elaborate, and it appears like the NBA is taking a step ahead by adding the trophies on the floor digitally.

NBA commissioner talks about the 2025 Finals’ viewership

In the first two games of the NBA Finals, the views have been low. On ABC, Game 1 averaged a 4.7 rating and had 8.91 million viewers. According to Sports Media Watch, it was the least-watched Game 1 of the Nielsen meter era. In Game 2, the views did not improve. The contest averaged 8.76  million, the lowest since 2007’s Game 2 between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks.

Despite that, Silver spoke highly about the series having the highest-viewed program.

“People compare us to 20 years ago, for Games 1 and 2, so far, are the highest-rated programs in May and June so far ion television,” Silver said. “If something beats us, it’ll be another sports program.

“Back 20 years ago, we often didn’t win the night when the Finals were on. But the ratings, the absolute rating is lower now.

“In some ways, I couldn’t be happier. We’re dominating in these cities, we’re dominating relative to other programing. But ultimately, the goal is get more people to watch and that’s what makes it a bigger event.

The commissioner didn’t give any figures to back up his claims about the NBA’s high viewership from the first two games.