The second round of the 2025 NBA Draft is set to begin later in the day after disappointing TV ratings.
This year’s New York City draft was broadcast on ESPN over two nights for the first time.
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The first round kicked off at 8pm ET on Wednesday, June 26th, live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Zaccharie Risacher was selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in a glittering ceremony.
The second round was broadcast in the mid-afternoon, starting at 4:00 pm ET, from ESPN’s Seaport Studios in Manhattan.
Opening night drew more than 4.4 million viewers on average, an 11 percent drop from 2023, per Horrible ad.
A day later, just under 900,000 viewers tuned in to watch the second round.
The second round was moved to an earlier time due to the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
“I am told that the non-traditional afternoon time slot was in fact selected because of the presidential debate last Thursday night, which was sure to completely overwhelm all other available TV programming,” Stein wrote in his newsletter. The Stein Line.
Stein added that “no firm decisions” have been made about scheduling for next year.
“But it is assumed that the second year of a separate broadcast for the second round would start in the evening,” he added.
The NBA first announced in January that the Draft would become a two-night event.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says support for the initiative came “from across the league.”
“We’ve heard from our teams that these second-round picks have become increasingly important,” he said, via CBS Sports.
“Of course we needed the agreement of the Players Association to do this, and it was not universally popular.
“Some people thought maybe we should do it all in one night.
“But I think for me it felt kind of like a combination of all these different interests, the opportunity to give second-round picks additional exposure, the opportunity to talk about why these picks are so valuable to teams, how deep the lineups are. . Nowadays, it seemed like a no-brainer to me.”
Bronny James, 19, was the highest-profile pick on Night 2 of the draft.
The USC guard was selected with the 55th overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers.
He joined his father LeBron in the franchise, where they will become the first father-son NBA duo to play on the same court.
New Lakers coach JJ Redick confirmed that Bronny and first-round pick Dalton Knecht will play in the California Classic tournament later this month.
The San Francisco section of the 2024 California Classic takes place July 6-10.
Los Angeles will face the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat.
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