Without question, Zion Williamson’s debut on Wednesday night was one of the coolest things I have seen in sports in a long time. I made sure to be parked in front of a television for it, and few things could have caused me to miss it. Keep in mind, I have only been a casual basketball fan the past few years. What this means is the league has hit the jackpot in terms of entertainment value with the no. 1 overall pick.
Consider the following, Ben Cafardo of ESPN reports that the event televised on the network peaked with almost 2.8 million viewers. Viewership was up 88 percent from last year’s most comparable game. It was ESPN’s highest rated NBA game this season aside from Christmas Day.
👀Impressive numbers for #Zion's debut on ESPN (Fast Nationals from Nielsen):
📺2,357,000 viewers. Peaked w/2,777,000.
⬆️Viewership up 88% vs last year's comparable game.
🏀1.6 US rating, matching ESPN's highest-rated NBA game this season (Non-XMas). Up 100% year over year. pic.twitter.com/9ZSbz6zGQv
— Ben Cafardo (@Ben_ESPN) January 23, 2020
Certainly there is more to it, and reason that things will continue to soar in terms of ratings for Zion and any network that decides he’s worth bumping something else for.
How many times in sport does the hype not actually meet the substance? For me, I always remember LeBron James’ debut at 18-years old all the way back in 2003. Part of this was, James had an immensely polarizing and productive performance. On Wednesday night, I felt the same way with Williamson’s effort. When the game was over, it left me wanting more. In fact, I listened to NBA radio that night into the wee hours and then turned on SiriusXM NBA the following day.
Furthermore, if I am doing this; it’s likely that a whole host of people around the world are doing the same thing. They heard Williamson was the next big thing. Then they tuned in to see what the fuss what about. Next, Williamson leaves them with the feeling they saw the start of something epic or historic. From there, the curiosity grows.
All of this creates a cycle, and it’s huge for the game of basketball. I even bought some basketball cards the other day because of it.
There is no end in sight if Williamson continues to deliver anything close to the electric performance. The proof is in the reported numbers. Zion sells, and we will consume it. And I can’t wait to put his highlight dunks in this very space sometime soon, because many of you will read it.
