“NFL Didn’t Take Away From the NBA”: Kendrick Perkins Defends Disparity Between Christmas Day Viewership

The NFL is the most dominant sports league in the United States, and although its incursion into Christmas featured two forgettable games, the viewership numbers indicate that the move was a big success, both for the league and for Netflix. Christmas Day has traditionally been the NBA’s domain, but though the NFL drew great interest, it didn’t come at the expense of basketball, as Kendrick Perkins pointed out.

Perkins is never shy with his opinions, and he responded to a Twitter post from NFL reporter Ari Meirov that highlighted the difference in viewership between the NFL and NBA games.

The numbers are never close… but the point is that the NFL didn’t take away from the NBA yesterday. Most watched in the last 5 years. Also up 84% from last year’s Christmas Day games

— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) December 27, 2024

It’s easy to see that yes, the NFL crushed the NBA on a per-game basis, but Big Perk is right that the day was still a huge success for basketball. While the NFL put out a Beyonce concert surrounded by two complete blowouts, the NBA had compelling matchups across the board featuring some of the biggest stars and markets in the league.

Part of the panic over the NBA’s decline in ratings this year has centered on the product not being exciting. Critics point to the way most early-season games lack intensity and meaning or the way most games devolve into glorified three-point shooting contests.

Those are valid concerns, but the addition of the NBA Cup has brought a playoff-like atmosphere to December basketball, and the fact that people are consuming NBA content in so many different ways offsets the fact that traditional ratings are down.

The NBA’s Christmas Day games were proof that the league is in a good place

Comparing the NBA to the NFL is like comparing apples to oranges. In today’s sports landscape, Adam Silver and company can’t hope to compete with Roger Goodell’s league, but what happened on Christmas is proof that the NBA is going to be just fine. As Kendrick Perkins said, Christmas Day viewership was the highest it’s been in five years, and it was up 84% from last year.

All five games of the NBA’s quintupleheader delivered captivating matchups. It began with the Knicks overcoming a signature Victor Wembanyama effort at MSG, then continued with a slugfest between the Sixers and the Celtics. Philly won in Boston in a game that could potentially turn their disappointing season around.

Next up was the Mavs versus the Timberwolves, and for a while, this looked to be the one snoozer of the day. Luka Doncic went out with a calf injury and the Wolves jumped out to a huge lead, but Kyrie Irving and Dallas provided a thrilling finish by nearly erasing a 28-point deficit before falling just short.

The first three games of the day were fantastic, but they were merely appetizers for the main course of LeBron James vs. Steph Curry. LeBron’s Lakers pulled it out in the final seconds on an Austin Reaves layup, overcoming Steph’s 38 points and game-tying three with under 10 seconds left. The 7.7 million people that tuned in to see it were the most to watch an NBA regular season game in five years.

The NBA needed a great set of games on Christmas to change the narrative, and LeBron, Steph, Wemby, and the rest all delivered.