Wednesday is NBA draft day, and the league is tipping off a new experiment to increase interest in and hype around its annual rookie selection event.

The two-round NBA draft is expanding to two days this year. The first round will take place Wednesday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with TV coverage on ABC and ESPN, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. The second round will move across town to ESPN’s Seaport district studio, and out of prime time, airing on ESPN at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday afternoon. Other logistical changes include the time between picks in the second round increasing from two to four minutes.

Last year, the one-night NBA draft averaged a record 3.74 million viewers. Like it will this year, ABC also carried the 2023 first round, which had an average audience of 4.93 million. Generational prospect Victor Wembanyama, then a teenager from France, was selected No. 1 by the Spurs, who saw an immediate impact on the bottom line, including a rush on ticket sales. 

This year’s draft class does not have a comparable consensus top pick—which is held by the Hawks—but does include a similar European connection. Many mock drafts have Frenchmen Alex Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher, both 19, going first and second, in varying orders. However, neither are predicted to have the same impact on their new franchises that Wembanyama has had on San Antonio, especially off the court.

The Bronny Factor

In a draft without a can’t-miss top pick, there is still one prospect creating more buzz than anyone else: Bronny James (above). The son of LeBron James decided to leave USC after one season and turn professional this summer, even though he isn’t guaranteed to be a first-round pick. 

After last month’s NBA draft combine, James moved up ESPN’s Top 100 rankings, from No. 98 to No. 54—just barely at the back end of the second round. There will be 58 picks in this draft due to two forfeited selections. Still, fans remain intrigued. BetMGM told The Athletic that 25.2% of its tickets for the No. 1 overall pick were for James.

The Lakers have selections Nos. 17 and 55. If Los Angeles is looking to pair the father-son duo together, ESPN execs may be hoping it waits until the second round to do so, in turn providing two days of intrigue for draft viewers.

Big drama in the Stanley Cup Final translated to historic television audiences for the NHL. 

ESPN said that it averaged 7.7 million viewers on ABC for Game 7 on Monday night between the Panthers and Oilers, representing the league’s most-watched game on any network since a record-setting draw of 8.7 million five years ago on NBC for the deciding seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final between the Blues and Bruins. It was also the most-viewed NHL game on record to not involve an Original Six franchise. 

Won by Florida for its first title in franchise history, the entire seven-game Final this year averaged 4.2 million per game, a 58% boost from last year’s five-game tilt between the Golden Knights and Panthers. There is a marked difference between the two years, however, as the Panthers-Oilers games included broadcast distribution on ABC, while last year featured cable-only coverage on TNT and TBS.

Compared to two years ago—a six-game win by the Avalanche over the Lightning also aired on Disney platforms including ABC—the 2024 Stanley Cup Final trailed by 9%. 

For the entire four rounds of this year’s NHL playoffs, Disney said it recorded a 60% audience increase from a year ago, when it did not have the Stanley Cup Final, and a 14% boost compared to two years ago.  

Canada’s Sportsnet, meanwhile, generated an average of 7.55 million viewers for Game 7 of the Oilers-Panthers series, representing the network’s most-watched broadcast in its 26-year history. The network’s broader reach number for the game was 15 million—a figure that is 39% of the entire country’s population. 

Topping Off

The strong numbers for this year’s championship round concluded a banner season for the NHL that included record attendance and revenue, a series of other ratings increases, and a new arena renovation deal in Washington. 

Monday’s on-ice dramatics, however, were marred somewhat by the emerging news that Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo is abandoning his efforts to revive the dormant franchise. But the NHL will now look to take its postseason momentum into this weekend’s draft, which will be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas.