During the 2025 NBA Finals, much has been made about the presentation, or lack thereof, from the league and its network partners. But according to The Ringer’s Logan Murdock, the problem goes beyond just the NBA Finals.
Every NBA Finals from 2011-2020 featured either LeBron James or Steph Curry, with four Finals featuring both. Since then, though, only one NBA Finals (2022) has included one of those two stars. Murdock feels that the lack of storytelling, particularly around lesser-established stars, is hurting the game. He sees it not just in the NBA Finals but also in how the league markets other flagship events, such as the NBA Cup and All-Star Game.
“There isn’t that storytelling aspect from any powers that be,” he said. “We’re not telling the story of the NBA. OK, you don’t have Steph and LeBron in the Finals. OK. Now what do you do? How do you sell your game? And I don’t think that the NBA has done a good job of selling its game. Even with the NBA Cup or even with like, the All-Star Game. Right? It’s always tinkering and tinkering. They’re just selling for the most part, the NBA, they’re selling transactions now. That’s pretty much what it is. Like, they’re selling, ‘Oh, this person might get traded. This person might get traded.’ They’re talking about everything but the game.”
.@loganmmurdock asks, Are the NBA and ESPN doing a good job of selling the Finals?
Full episode of the Press Box here: https://t.co/UA4txiXFBy pic.twitter.com/QKD6U6SHkC
— Bryan Curtis (@bryancurtis) June 13, 2025
He continued.
“I think it’s really affected the NBA,” Murdock added. “Because I think that a lot of people aren’t giving nuanced talk about what the NBA is and how great of a game it is. It’s legitimately exciting to watch this Finals and see this new crop of guys. But it doesn’t seem like the NBA is invested on educating us on who these new guys are. Why isn’t there a package to start the Finals on like [Andrew] Nembhard?”
Murdock also compared the NBA’s storytelling unfavorably to other leagues and sporting events, like the NFL or the Olympics.
“Like, NBC does a great job of fluff,” Murdock said. “I was reading Dick Ebersol’s book last year and it was all about the storytelling element of the Olympics and just every one of their properties that they’ve ever had. And it all comes down to storytelling. There’s no fluff pieces on these players…I’m talking about from a league partner. There is no fluff. It’s like, ‘Do you care?’ Meanwhile, I turn on these same programs to watch the NFL and it is all fluff from the league partners. It helps you out. I didn’t know Jayden Daniels that well going into this NFL season. I learned so much about him, just on the pregame show. Whether it’s Amazon. Whether it’s NFL Countdown.
“We just don’t have that right now. We don’t have that care on the NBA side and it’s really frustrating. But that’s where we’ve gotten with the NBA. We’re not in a great place. And I do hope that with the next NBA deal coming into focus that we have a bit more of that storytelling and the NBA sells itself a lot more as opposed to trying to put out these little fires that become big fires.”
