With the NBA’s blessing, ABC announced this week that it’s rerouting its broadcast crew from Dallas to Cleveland next weekend.
The news probably didn’t go over well with Doris Burke and the crew, but it was the right choice.
You see, the NBA schedule is a mess right now. And it will be for the rest of the regular season.
Teams that were supposed to be good aren’t.
And teams that were supposed to be pretty good are really good.
So what appeared in October to be a matchup that could beat NCAA conference tournaments in the ratings suddenly couldn’t beat high school regional consolation games.
In the 2025 edition of this disarray, we’re talking 76ers and Mavericks—once billed as a possible late-season MVP showdown between Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic. Instead, it has become Andre Drummond and Klay Thompson in an old-timers game.
Nobody wants to see that.
So in its place, ABC is opting for the Magic and Cavaliers.
The problem is, nobody wants to see that, either.
From now until April 13, very little of consequence will happen in the NBA. That’s not good for ratings.
The top seeds in the playoffs are secure. There’s really no difference between finishing second or third. And the rest of the games—can the Warriors get up to No. 4? Can the Nets sneak in the back door?
Do you really care?
There is an interesting race shaping up, but the NBA refuses to acknowledge it.
Before he was banished from the airwaves, Jeff Van Gundy had a good idea. He proposed that the NBA scoring leader be determined by total points.
You know, like the NFL or NHL scoring leader, or baseball’s home run king.
It fell upon deaf ears, and I can understand why.
Players, give me a show of hands for all in favor of the idea.
Yeah, that’s what I thought: Jayson Tatum voted yes; every other star-level player would rather rest up for the playoffs in March and April; and most bench players look forward to the increased playing time as an opportunity to pad their stats in pursuit of a contract for next season.
OK, coaches, your turn. Give me a thumbs-up if you like the plan.
Thank you, Doug Christie, who would love to see Domantas Sabonis return in April and help the Kings earn a rare trip to the postseason, which probably would allow the interim coach to get a full-time shot next year.
Otherwise, crickets. Coaches believe they need to use the final 20 games or so to find the best playoff matchup or the most pingpong balls, not necessarily actually win games or try hard in an attempt to do so.
But think about it.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is in good shape to lead the NBA in points. He has a 323-point lead over Anthony Edwards with one quarter of the season to go.
It’s not the ideal situation to sell this new idea, but bear with me.
If Gilgeous-Alexander and Edwards are your starting backcourt on the All-NBA team and Nikola Jokic is your center, then Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James could be dueling for the two forward spots.
At this point, Giannis would be claiming he’s the top scorer among forwards because his percentage says so. Tatum would argue he leads the race because he has the most points among forwards.
Then there’s LeBron, who could say: Give me an incentive to score more points, and I’ll score more points.
And now April basketball has some juice—but only if we’re counting, not applying decimal points.
One of the greatest regular-season days in NBA history took place on April 9, 1978, when David Thompson exploded for 73 points on the final day in an otherwise meaningless game against the Pistons.
That left George Gervin needing 58 points in a later game to claim the scoring title, and he did just that by totaling 63 against the Jazz.
Poor Gary Player. He won the Masters over on CBS, and nobody watched.
And why would you? Thompson outscored him 73-64.
There almost surely will be no such fireworks on April 13 this year. But you never know.
A Gilgeous-Alexander injury or an overprotective Mark Daigneault could create a lane for Edwards, Jokic or maybe even Tatum.
But that’s only if every point counts.
As it stands now, Gilgeous-Alexander is four games away from reaching 65 games, the NBA’s minimum for award eligibility. He could sit out every game starting next Saturday and still win the scoring title on percentage, even if he were passed in total points.
And that ruins a potential good thing.
So, Doris, change gates. You’re not going to New Orleans to crown a real scoring champ. You’re headed to Sacramento. Tenth place is on the line.
