The NBA is still one of the more popular sports leagues but they have seen a dip in ratings over time. This is due to multiple reasons such as less meaningful regular season games, new cable streaming bundles, and players sitting out of games for load management.
The league has tried to help things by implementing the new NBA Cup, which was a success in its first year last season. They also have cracked down on load management, helping to get players back into lineups.
However, former NBA star center Shaqullie O’Neal seemed to have another take on why ratings have dropped. On his “Big Podcast”, O’Neal said that he believes the new inclusion of so many 3-point shot attempts has taken some of the fun out of the game.
“It’s down because we’re looking at the same thing,” O’Neal said. “Everybody is running the same plays…Steph Curry and those guys messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team isn’t a 3-point shooter. So why everybody has the same strategy? I think it makes the game boring.”
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Teams are now shooting more 3-point shots than ever and it all started with the emergence of what Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors did about a decade ago. They single-handedly change the flow of the NBA and O’Neal isn’t a fan.
“The game has already been perfect ever since Naismith created it,” he claimed. “This new era of humans f–ked it up… Golden State came in and changed it and you made a great point, it’s a copycat league. Everybody wants to be Steph Curry, but everybody’s not Steph Curry and that’s why viewership is down. But these dudes, they need to wake up because if viewership is down, the money is gonna come down.”
The top five teams in terms of 3-point shot attempt average per game are all over 40 per matchup. The Boston Celtics lead the way, attempting 51.4 3-pointers per game on average.
The Indiana Pacers rank last in the league with 31.7 attempts per game.
The league has changed from when O’Neal played and it has taken away some of the physicality of the NBA. But it has also helped to make games exciting since players can pull up from almost half-court and nail long 3-pointers.
Some like the path that the modern NBA has gone down and others don’t. However, no matter the opinion, it doesn’t seem like the league is going away from the 3-point shot anytime soon.
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