According to SportsMediaWatch, the NBA is cutting down on late start times in order to give East Coast fans a chance to watch West Coast superstars like Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Anthony Davis. The Los Angeles teams will be a big draw this year, and with much of the media based in New York and Boston, the league is making a move to make the games available before bedtime for sleepy writers.
More from the source:
The NBA has reduced the number of 10:30 PM ET games on ESPN and TNT from 59 last year to 34 in the upcoming 2019-20 regular season, according to the league schedule released Monday. The majority of late windows this season — 36 of 70 — will have 9:30 or 10 PM starts, after only 14 of 73 did last season.
This year marks the first time since the 2002-03 season — the first under the NBA’s deals with Disney and Turner — that the majority of late games have begun prior to 10:30. That year, only 22 of 58 late windows began at 10:30.
The earlier start times are no surprise. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in May that he wanted late games to start earlier to accommodate the Eastern time zone.
As the season gets closer, we’ll be updating the schedule for your easy reference right here at the TV, Internet, and Phone Blog. For now, you can get your basketball fix watching the BIG3.
