The 2026 NBA Finals were the league’s most-watched championship series since Michael Jordan was on the Bulls.
The five-game series between the Knicks and Spurs averaged 20.6 million viewers on ABC per Nielsen data, ESPN announced Tuesday. It’s the most-watched Finals series on ABC and ESPN networks, and the most-watched NBA title series since the 1998 NBA Finals (29.04 million on NBC).
That series saw Chicago win its sixth title in eight years and was Jordan’s last series with the Bulls.
The 2026 NBA Finals also drew a 157% increase over last year’s seven-game series between the Thunder and Pacers, which drew just 10.3 million viewers last year, one of the least-watched finals.
The series-clinching fifth game drew 24.5 million viewers, the most-watched NBA Finals game since Game 7 of the 2016 Finals between the Cavaliers and the Warriors, which featured LeBron James and Stephen Curry (31 million).
