NBA Finals ratings have been down since 2019, and the league is banking on the Knicks to reverse the trend.

The New York Knicks advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 is one of, if not the, best situations in the NBA.

The league can use it.

Last year’s Finals between the Thunder and the Pacers was on pace to be the least-watched NBA Finals (barring the 2020 COVID bubble season) until Game 7 upped the ante a bit. Even then, it still produced one of the least-watched Game 7s in Finals history.

By and large, the NBA Finals has recently become a smaller televised event than the World Series, the Masters and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

It wasn’t always like that.

NEW YORK KNICKS SWEPH CAVALIERS FOR FIRST NBA PLAYOFFS SINCE 1999 AFTER GAME 4 BLOWOUT

From 2015 to 2019, the NBA Finals averaged 18.66 million viewers. As of 2020, the average has dropped to just 10.45 million. The decline is particularly notable because the Finals at the time still featured traditionally high-profile national brands, including the Warriors, Lakers (in the midst of the COVID year), and Celtics.

The NBA is no doubt hoping that the Knicks can help reverse the trend, whether they face the Thunder or the Spurs, two franchises that historically have not drawn strong Finals ratings. In fact, the Knicks faced the Spurs the last time they reached the finals. The 1999 series had 16.01 million viewers.

The problem is that the series ended quickly. San Antonio has won in five games. That remains a concern this year.

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Thunder over the Knicks in five games is currently considered the most likely Finals outcome. The Knicks would be nearly +200 underdogs against Western Conference opponents, meaning about a 30 percent chance to win the series outright.

Still, if the Knicks can steal the first game or two, national interest could quickly grow.

Singer Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce attend Game Three of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DOD NOT @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!

For all the usual resistance to big-market teams, the Knicks could emerge as the preferred team among neutral viewers. Oklahoma City plays an analytics-driven style that casual fans find appealing, especially with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s heavy reliance on drawing fouls.

The Thunder are really hard to enjoy watching.

Against Spurs, the dynamics would be different but likely to be equally compelling. The Knicks’ quest to end a 53-year championship drought will attract outsiders. Victor Wembanyama is arguably the most exciting prospect to enter the league since LeBron James over 20 years ago. Still, today’s sports audience is often slower to embrace the more heavily marketed “next face of the league” news than previous generations.

The fact that he is European is also important, in terms of potential star power.

The Knicks burned Cleveland in four games, reached the NBA Finals and resurrected a basketball giant. ((Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

In any case, the matchup may generate strong interest in more than two local fans, which is exactly what the NBA needs.

That said, comparing this year’s audience numbers to previous Finals will be somewhat misleading. As OutKick previously explained, Nielsen changed its rating system in September to a model called Big Data + Panel. The fix increased the average live sports audience by about 10 percent.

That change is one of the reasons the NBA’s play-by-play ratings have looked so strong this season, along with the league’s switch to television from TNT to NBC.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

Sorry, fans. NBA playoff ratings are actually not the highest they’ve been in 33 years, as reported.

Those things alone should help the NBA deliver the most watched Finals in the 2020s. It can help if the series is competitive, though.