The 2025-26 NBA season is in the books, closing another exciting chapter in the league and offering an exciting springboard into the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
The regular season is a marathon that ebbs and flows depending on the calendar, but teams did a great job of showing up when it came to primetime. This past year, games were shown on new platforms like Amazon Prime Video while the NBA also made a triumphant return to NBC/Peacock.
With the increase in streaming networks, the NBA turned in one of its most-viewed regular seasons in history and massively outperformed last year’s viewership numbers, via NBAPR:
170 million people in the U.S. watched NBA games across ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, NBC/Peacock and NBA TV during the regular season – the most in 24 years and up 86% vs. last season. pic.twitter.com/iXGUISQQIT
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 15, 2026
The NBA has to be pleased with its viewership counts as it’s a clear indicator that the league is as popular as ever. While there are legitimate concerns about tanking and injuries ruining the on-court product, the combination of international and domestic stars and parity make the NBA feel more global than ever.
Another major factor in the league’s regular season success is the quality play from the big-market teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. The Lakers boast three legitimate stars in LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves who contributed to the viewership numbers and led the organization to 53 wins.
Los Angeles’ trio also appeared on the NBA’s top-10 most-viewed players on social media and for good reason as any of the three could pull off a highlight-reel play either as a scorer or passer. Those kinds of moments happened often during the regular season, and the same can be said for the other stars around the league.
The game of basketball continues to grow and evolve and there seem to be no signs of slowing down. Hopefully the postseason can match the growth of the regular season as that would really push basketball forward.
Luka Doncic grateful after being granted eligibility for NBA awards
Doncic looked more like himself in his first full season with the Lakers and as a result turned in one of the best years of his career. Unfortunately for Doncic, he was forced to miss the final two weeks of the regular season due to a Grade 2 left hamstring strain.
Doncic just missed the cut off for end-of-season awards due the NBA’s 65 games played rule, but he won his appeal to qualify. Once the announcement was made, Doncic expressed his gratitude for being eligible for NBA awards.
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