NBA on Christmas Day viewership highest in five years

Victor Wembanyama may be the box office draw the NBA needs when Stephen Curry and LeBron James call it quits.

The NBA announced Thursday that the San Antonio Spurs phenom's Christmas Day debut against the New York Knicks averaged 4.91 million viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas opener in 13 years. The game's viewership was up 98% compared to last year's Milwaukee Bucks versus Knicks opener. 

All five Christmas Day matchups saw year-over-year viewership increases, with the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics matinee game drawing 5.16M viewers (up 3%), the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Dallas Mavericks evening affair drawing 4.38M viewers (up 6%) and the Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets drawing 3.84M (up 161%). The latter, the nightcap of the slate, was the most-watched late window game in Christmas Day history, the NBA announced. 

As expected, the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors game — slotted into the prime time 8 p.m. ET slot — drew the most eyeballs, averaging 7.76M viewers and peaking at 8.32M AT 10:30 p.m. ET. It was reportedly the most-watched NBA regular season game in five years, up 499% versus the Christmas Day primetime game from 2023. 

The uptick in numbers bodes well for the NBA, especially given its recent struggles with television viewership. It also helps that all the Christmas Day games were competitive contests, generating the closest margin of victory (five points) over a five-day slate in history. 

There were previously concerns that the NFL's two Christmas Day games — which coincided with three of the five NBA games — would steal eyeballs from the basketball league. However, it appears that wasn't the case, as the NFL games streamed exclusively on Netflix and didn't affect the NBA's linear TV numbers. 

The NBA seemingly felt the NFL encroached on its territory, with one of its leading players making it clear that "Christmas is our day."