The Dallas Mavericks were billed as must-see TV at the start of the NBA season, but as they skid down the standings, it's clear that the broadcast rights would have been better spent elsewhere.
The Dallas Mavericks don't care about shareholder value!
In 2024, the NBA signed a new media rights deal, allowing Disney-owned ESPN, NBC, and Amazon to broadcast games for the next 11 seasons for a total of $77 billion. So far, the new-look TV product has been touted as a massive success, with Amazon's portfolio of former players and NBC's celebration of the game earning high praise.
Naturally, teams like the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Los Angeles Lakers get more than their fair share of nationally televised games on the new providers. With playoff expectations and a flashy young rookie in Cooper Flagg, the Mavericks were scheduled for 23 national TV games this season.
Maybe that investment was a bit premature.
Mavericks Used As Selling Point in $77 Billion Deal
Every NBA team gets at least two nationally-telived games, with the Wizards, Raptors, and Jazz bringing up the rear. Dallas, with their 23 games, ranked tenth in the league.
That means 0.8 percent of the 11-year deal featured this season's Dallas Mavericks, costing broadcasters just under $62 million.
I can think of better ways to spend that money.
"This Mavericks team was sold to broadcasters like a combination of the 2024 Western Conference champion that had phenom Cooper Flagg instead of Luka Doncic, to go with all the bigs you could ask for and the glimmer of hope that Kyrie Irving would return from ACL surgery, with D’Angelo Russell holding things down in the interim," listed The Athletic's Law Murray. "Well, at least Flagg panned out. Irving won’t play this season, Davis and Russell were traded for Khris Middleton and Marvin Bagley III, Klay Thompson is no longer a starter, and Dereck Lively II played 115 minutes."
Are this season's Mavericks worth 23 nationally-terlivised games? Nope. Even with the preseason expectations, the Mavericks weren't going to be a very exciting team, at least until Kyrie Irving returned from injury. That, of course, will not happen this season, and Dallas traded away their best player in Anthony Davis at the deadline.
Of course, those TV giants can afford a swing and a miss every now and then, but such a massive whiff this early into an 11-year contract isn't the best look.
Then again, when those three companies are among the biggest in the world, it's hard to feel that bad for them.