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NBA Draft set for broadcast shake-up in 2025 as second round returns to ‘primetime slot’ following mid-afternoon move
Less than a million tuned in to see Bronny James join up with his dad at the LA Lakers
THE second round of the 2025 NBA Draft is set to start later in the day following disappointing TV ratings.
This year's draft from New York City was broadcast by ESPN over two nights for the first time.
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The first round began at 8 pm ET on Wednesday, June 26, live from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Zaccharie Risacher was taken as the No. 1 overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks at a glittering ceremony.
The second round was broadcast in a mid-afternoon slot from 4 pm ET at ESPN’s Seaport Studios in Manhattan.
Opening night drew more than 4.4 million viewers on average, down 11 percent from 2023, per Awful Announcing.
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A day later, just under 900,000 viewers tuned in to watch round two.
The second round was moved to an earlier timeslot due to the Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, per NBA insider Marc Stein.
"I’m told that the untraditional afternoon slot was indeed selected because of the presidential debate last Thursday night that was guaranteed to completely overwhelm all other TV programming available," Stein wrote in his newsletter The Stein Line.
Stein added "no firm decisions" have been made about scheduling for next year.
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"But it is presumed that Year 2 of a separate telecast for Round 2 would begin in the evening," he added.
The NBA first announced in January the Draft was to become a two-night affair.
Zaccharie Risacher marvels at ‘dream coming true’ before landing at Hawks as No. 1 pick on ‘special’ NBA Draft night
NBA commissioner Adam Silver claims support for the initiative came from "around the league."
"We did hear from our teams that these second-round picks have become increasingly important," he said, via CBS Sports.
"Of course we needed the Players Association agreement to do that, and it wasn't universally popular.
"There were some people who felt maybe we should just get it all done in one night.
"But I think for me, I felt sort of combining all those different interests, the opportunity to give that additional exposure to the second-round picks, the opportunity to talk about why these picks are so valuable to teams, how deep the rosters are these days, it seemed to me like a no-brainer."
Bronny James, 19, was the highest-profile pick on Night 2 of the draft.
The USC guard was selected as the No. 55 overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers.
He has joined up with his dad LeBron at the franchise, where they are set to become the first-ever NBA father-son duo to play on the same court.
New Lakers head coach JJ Redick has confirmed Bronny and first-round pick Dalton Knecht will both play in the California Classic tournament later this month.
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The San Francisco section of the 2024 California Classic takes place between July 6-10.
Los Angeles will face the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, and Miami Heat.