The NBA season is now officially over after the Oklahoma City Thunder prevailed over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. But the discussion about the league's ratings will continue.
Sunday night's winner-take-all contest scored a huge number, amassing over 16 million viewers with a peak that eclipsed 19 million per The Athletic's Richard Deitsch.
The numbers are in:
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) June 23, 2025
16,353,000 million viewers watched Game 7, the most-watched NBA Finals game in six years.
Peak Audience: 19,281M viewers https://t.co/cNwLRRxUUL
ESPN and the league has to be buoyed by that going into the offseason, especially after the first six games of this year's Finals represented a significant decrease from last year's Dallas Mavericks-Boston Celtics matchup.
There are no shortage of experts who think they can explain this yet the most prevailing thought is that two small-market teams do not usually add up to ratings success.
Game 7, of course, is one of the most exciting phrases in all of sports, so it's really no surprise that people tuned in to see the resolution. A close game at halftime also helped keep people engaged.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Game 7 of the NBA Finals Brought in Biggest Audience of the 2020s.