While the Los Angeles Lakers have the most fans, the NBA’s two best teams so far this season are the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors.
Phoenix went undefeated during the month of November and the team is currently riding a seventeen-game win streak. Meanwhile, Golden State (18-3) had won fourteen of their last fifteen games before matching up with the Suns in Phoenix on Nov. 30.
It was the most-watched non-Opening Night regular-season game on TNT since 2019.
After a few days of rest, the Suns and Warriors are scheduled for a rematch on Dec. 3. The game wasn’t scheduled for national television but fortunately, thanks to a programming decision from ESPN, fans will get easy access.
You usually don't see the Lakers getting swapped out of national TV games. But here it is. On Friday, ESPN will now broadcast the Warriors-Suns game instead of the Lakers-Clippers game
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) December 2, 2021
According to NBA.com’s Mark Medina, the Worldwide Leader is flexing out the Lakers-Clippers rivalry matchup and replacing it with the Phoenix-Golden State showdown.
Phoenix won the first game, despite losing Devin Booker to injury, thanks in large part to the defensive prowess of Mikal Bridges. But no matter how well Bridges plays on Friday, history suggests we’re unlikely to see back-to-back poor showings from Stephen Curry.
The decision to take the Battle for Los Angeles off national television may read as strange on paper. However, it is easy to see why the folks at ESPN went that route.
Kawhi Leonard is still out (indefinitely) with injury for the Clippers and for the Lakers, LeBron James will miss time due to health and safety protocols.
ESPN looking at an intracity matchup of LA teams and saying, “Nah, we’re good,” is such a referendum on this Lakers team. Even with LeBron out, even for Warriors/Suns, it’s still a pretty stunning message of the Lakers lack of appeal right now.
— Bill Oram (@billoram) December 2, 2021
If the season ended today, the Suns and Warriors would be the top two seeds in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, respectively, the Lakers and Clippers would be at No. 6 and No. 7 overall.
The decision from ESPN is an interesting reflection on where these four franchises currently stand in relation to what viewers want to see, and in this case, it’s the best teams and not the biggest market.
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