While the Western Conference boasts most of the league’s largest markets and superstars, the talent in the Eastern Conference is often overlooked because of unequal broadcast distribution.
The playoffs begin in one month, and nine teams in the West sit above .500 as opposed to just six in the East.
The Cleveland Cavaliers sit at the top of the conference with a 56-12 record, mirroring the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West.
The eighth-seeded Orlando Magic surprised many by snapping Cleveland’s 16-game winning streak Sunday. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner led the way with 24 and 22 points respectively, and the Magic achieved more blocks and steals than the Cavs.
But this matchup was only recently added to the list of nationally televised games for the Magic.
Ahead of this season they were slated to have less than 10 games broadcast across ESPN and TNT.
The Washington Wizards have only won 15 games so far, but they aren’t playing uninspired — unlike a certain team in north Texas, they’re become a fun team to watch.
The Wizards had a spring in their step this month, winning five of their last nine matchups.
Alex Sarr, a 19-year-old seven-footer picked second by the Wizards in last year’s draft, became the youngest player in franchise history to score more than 30 points.
The Detroit Pistons had a seven-game winning streak last month, falling short of the franchise record of 13-straight wins set by the “Bad Boys” three decades prior.
Further determination can be found from the Chicago Bulls, who are set to compete in the play-in tournament.
The Bulls are expected to retain their position as the ninth-seed, even though they have the same record as the Miami Heat.
Miami is expected to fall much further below the Bulls as they’re on an eight-game losing streak a month after trading away Jimmy Butler, but on a bright note, guard Coby White earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week, and he’s averaged 28 points since March 2.
Giannis Antetokounmpo — second only to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in scoring this season — has averaged 30 points, 12 boards and 6 assists.
A healthy Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard led the Bucks to a respectable fifth seed, but I don’t think the team has received the attention it deserves for that.
Retired player Lou Williams agrees with that sentiment for a different reason, suggesting that Giannis should “add a piece.”
He’s right: Antetokounmpo is shooting less than 18% from three, and he could benefit from sticking to his midrange prowess if the longer shots aren’t falling.
Everyone doesn’t have to be a sharpshooter, nor is everyone cut out to be a stretch forward. That doesn’t take away from Antetokounmpo’s demonstrated greatness.
But only dedicated fans outside of Wisconsin have noticed this to some degree, as the Bucks had 27 scheduled nationally televised games to the Lakers’ 39 and the Warriors’ 36.
Down south, the Atlanta Hawks have a strong Defensive Player of the Year contender in forward Dyson Daniels. He’s already earned the title “Great Barrier Thief” for his impressive ability to notch multiple steals, averaging three per game.
If Daniels keeps this up, he should be neck and neck with John Stockton and his 244 steals in 1992, which currently ranks ninth for most steals in an NBA season.
This is just a shortlist of notable players to watch up and down the Eastern Conference standings, and it doesn’t even include the impressive moments provided by rookies and second-unit players.
So why doesn’t the casual consumer know that so much more than the Cavs, Knicks and Celtics are worthy of our attention in the Eastern Conference?
We can look to the state of NBA League Pass to make some sense of the disconnect. League Pass — the league’s official live and on-demand game streaming provider — is subject to ample blackout restrictions.
Let’s say I’m a Washington, D.C. resident and I don’t pay for cable, but I have an active League Pass subscription.
If I want to watch the Wizards play the Jazz at home and the game isn’t nationally televised, then I would have to wait up to three days for the full broadcast to become available on the League Pass platform.
In this hypothetical, I would be less inclined to religiously watch games. I would instead skim the box score, wait for the next TNT game and make presumptions about how teams are faring.
There’s only so much disdain that NBA superfans can project onto casual consumers who make poorly-defended arguments about the state of the league.
It’s one thing to not be interested in watching basketball regularly, and it’s another matter to be unable to do so.
If the NBA can’t find a solution to the broadcasting challenges imposed by local and national content providers, the growth and dedication of local fan bases could be partially hindered.
Accessibility may be the commissioner’s goal, but it doesn’t seem that’s happening anytime soon.
