DOESN’T EVERYTHING? The NBA has an audience problem: The league’s historic TV deal masks poor fundamentals.

Roughly 50% of households have dropped their cable provider and opted for streaming services (Netflix and Amazon Prime Video) or virtual pay-TV providers (Sling TV). Now, for the tens of millions of streaming households, it takes more of an effort to seek out professional basketball through an existing streaming service. Obsessive fans use League Pass to ensure that they can catch every game, and the highly-engaged fan will regularly tune in for basketball on the national networks or watch their local team on a Regional Sports Network.1

But the casual fan, who in the era of cable would’ve been more likely to flip on a nationally televised basketball game, can now choose from more content than ever, which means the NBA competes with everything from endless streaming options to short-form video content. It’s silly to think that Anthony Edwards, a player who’s been hyped as the next Michael Jordan, is competing with this giant Flemish Rabbit for viewership. But that’s sort of what’s happening.

We’re all competing with giant Flemish rabbits these days.