'We're looking at the same...' - Shaquille O'Neal explains why NBA viewership is declining

In light of the NBA's reportedly declining viewership from the previous season, NBA icon Shaquille O'Neal urged clubs to reduce their reliance on 3-point shooting. The Hall of Famer stated that coaches and players may re-attract more fans by adding more variation to their offensive setups. NBC, ESPN, and Amazon inked a huge 11-year, $77 billion broadcast rights agreement with the NBA during the offseason.

Nevertheless, the league's television ratings have continuously decreased since to start of the 2024–25 season, according to Front Office Sports' report released on Wednesday. During Thursday's "The Big Podcast with Shaq," O'Neal questioned co-host Adam Lefkoe about the veracity of the claim. According to Lefkoe, the NBA's prime-time games have not attracted as many people as their counterparts from the previous season.

Lefkoe then questioned Shaquille O'Neal if he had a "theory" as to why the person had been dropped off. The big man pointed out that games are becoming more predictable as a result of teams placing more emphasis on 3-point shooting and space.  "I have a theory. It's down because we're looking at the same thing," O'Neal said. "Everybody's running the same plays. At the damn top of the key, dribble handoff. "I was talking to a coach yesterday, and he said they want to shoot 50 3s because they were trying to contemplate if I could play in this era. ... and I'm like, 'Well, how much you wanna make?' 'We wanna make 10 or 15 of them,' as per Sportskeeda.

Shaquille O'Neal blames Steph Curry and Golden State Warriors for downfall

The defending NBA champion Boston Celtics (51.2) are leading six teams that are averaging 40-plus 3-point attempts per game to begin the season. In contrast, Boston was the only team in the previous season to take 40 or more triples a night (42.5). If that pattern persists and the NBA's viewership declines, the league might be compelled to make adjustments that would restrict how frequently teams shoot outside.

Shaquille O'Neal mentioned on his podcast that the NBA's product downturn was impacted by the Golden State Warriors' success in the late 2010s, which included Steph Curry. "Steph Curry and those guys messed it up," O'Neal said. "I don't mind Golden State back in the day shooting 3s, but every team's not a 3-point shooter, so why (does) everybody have the same strategy?" as per Sportskeeda.

The four-time NBA champion claimed that the league's watchability suffered because too many rival teams attempted to imitate the shooting superteam's style of play. As long as teams continue to shoot at will from outside the arc, O'Neal continued, "viewership will continue to go down."