Green Unleashes on the NBA! Draymond Green Sounds the Alarm – Boring Games are Killing the League!
Is the present-day NBA product boring? Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green sure seems to think so, and says that the lack of entertainment value is why the league has seen a steep decline in ratings through the 2024-25 season. Media members asked Green about the ratings decline prior to Sunday night’s NBA All-Star Game, which he will not be a part of.
“Absolutely,” Green said when asked if the games were boring. “…Every possession is some type of chess move. You don’t get that today in the NBA, often. … You don’t just get that on a regular basis. It’s just who can run faster, who can hit more 3s, it’s no substance. I think it’s very boring.”
Both Green and fellow star Damian Lillard talked at length about the effects analytics have played in how the game is played. Lillard, specifically, talked about meshing aesthetically pleasing basketball with the most effective way of winning games.
“I think as a league now, we look so deep into analytics, and you hear people saying out loud, we want a 3 or a layup. Don’t be shooting too many midrange jumpers,” Damian Lillard said Saturday. “You hear that, and I think it just kind of takes away the originality of the game, I would say. It’s meant to be played at three levels. It’s meant to be played a certain way.”
However, the issue comes with regards to finding a fix. Ultimately, the goal is winning games and winning championships. If playing a more analytically sound helps teams do that, it’s hard to imagine they’ll change anytime soon. And there’s not much in the way of tools at the league’s disposal to change that.
“We’re paying a lot of attention to it,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “I’m never going to say there isn’t room for improvement. We’ll continue to look at it and study it. But I am happy with the state of the game right now.”
Unfortunately for Silver, fans are not, and that’s what really matters in the end.
