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The season has finally wrapped up, with the New York Knicks beating the San Antonio Spurs four games to one in the 2026 NBA Finals. It was the Knicks’ first NBA title in over half a century (53 years, to be exact), and all the stars were in attendance to see it, including Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Tracy Morgan, Taylor Swift, and countless others. And despite a reported viewership decline over recent years, the NBA is now back on top following huge viewership numbers for the finals, making this year’s Game 5 the most-watched since 1998.

24.5 Million Viewers Watched Game 5 on ABC and ESPN

There was no better way for the NBA to cap off an amazing season than by pulling in 24.5 million viewers across ABC and ESPN for this year’s NBA Finals.

It marks a significant comeback for the league, which, up until recently, had been trying to fix its ongoing viewership problem.

Back when the 2024-25 NBA regular season ended, TNT, ESPN, and ABC averaged 1.53 million viewers, a year-over-year fall of 2%.

But the NBA is now back and bigger than ever following its near-25 million viewership pull for the 2026 Finals, which peaked at 33 million while the Finals MVP Jalen Brunson was finishing off a legendary 45-point performance.

The numbers also came in a couple of months ago for the 2025-26 regular season, and the NBA says the first year of its new television deals has been a smash hit.

NBA-released numbers show that 170 million fans in the U.S. watched the recent NBA across ABC, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, NBC/Peacock, and NBA TV, the league’s biggest numbers in 24 years and a staggering 86% increase from the previous season.

Knicks NBA Finals Was Also the Most Bet-On NBA Game at DraftKings Ever

It’s not just broadcasters and streaming networks who pulled in big numbers throughout the Knicks-Spurs final this year.

Sportsbooks had an excellent run, too, with DraftKings reporting that Game 5 of the 2026 Finals was its most bet-on NBA game of all time.

Similarly, BetMGM saw a 28.6% jump in the average handle wagered on each game from the 2025 Finals to the 2026 Finals, again showing how fans are back in love with the NBA game.

Some big bets were placed as well, with one bettor even sticking $20,000 on the Knicks to win the title at 22/1 odds during the first round (another fan even put $200,000 on the Knicks way before the Finals even began).

Caesars Sportsbook, FanDuel, and other popular operators additionally experienced their own huge spikes in bets, which comes as no surprise considering how popular sports betting is in the U.S. at the moment.

Most fans are now using dedicated software and other similar betting tools to help craft their picks and parlays for NBA games, and it’s created a space where even the most casual NBA fan can place more informed bets.

The NBA Is Back to Its Best

Now that the offseason is underway, worldwide NBA fans can breathe a sigh of relief that the league is officially back on top.

The NBA has faced a ton of criticism over recent years, from allegedly being unable to draw TV ratings anymore to a lack of big-draw players in the sport.

But all of that has now been put to bed, and the NBA looks like a juggernaut again, and you only have to look at the star-studded courtside seats during the Finals to see that popular culture is shifting back to one of America’s greatest sports leagues again.

The Knicks will no doubt continue their celebrations for a little while longer, and you can expect even bigger viewership numbers once the 2026-27 season arrives later this year.