If you’re among the loyal readers of this column (all three or four of you, by my estimate), you might be wondering why a series titled “The Full Court Press” has yet to cover any basketball. As you sat and read about Deshaun Watson or the Padres, you surely thought to yourself, “Does this idiot even know what a full court press is? He knows that’s a basketball term, right?”
Well fear not, my devoted followers, for the NBA season is finally here, with plenty of drama and intrigue in tow. Of course, plenty could be said about the Celtics’ demolition of the Knicks that opened the season on Tuesday night, but a New York team failing to fulfill expectations hasn’t exactly been newsworthy as of late (see, for example, the 2022 Nets).
While the display by the winningest franchise in NBA history was relatively unsurprising, I’m not so sure the same can be said for the victory achieved by their West Coast rivals, the Lakers, in the latter half of the doubleheader. As they entered their season opener, the LA squad was certainly surrounded by more questions than answers. After an uncompetitive first-round performance against the superior Nuggets and the subsequent firing of Head Coach Darvin Ham, the club was undoubtedly in a precarious position heading into the offseason. Furthermore, when general manager Rob Pelinka made the decision to hire player-turned-podcaster JJ Redick to arguably the most heavily scrutinized coaching position in American sports, alarm bells were sounding at full blast.
However, those sirens began to fade into cheers as the Lakers took down the Timberwolves 110–103 in front of a sellout home crowd. While many stories and narratives circulated on social media as Redick’s squad dominated the game for nearly the entire 48 minutes, none amassed more popularity than the video of LeBron James and his son, Bronny, making history by becoming the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game when they checked in together late in the second quarter. It was an undeniably special moment that even Celtics fans struggled to criticize and has since dominated the NBA news cycle.
Really, the game couldn’t have gone any better for the Lakers. Redick showed flashes of coaching greatness, seemingly scheming up more open looks for his players in one game than his predecessor did in 164. Further, Anthony Davis returned to peak form, tallying 36 points and 16 rebounds.
But the single most important outcome of the game is that people are talking about the Lakers again. They are a team in one of the league’s foremost markets, with the most nationally televised games, and, oh yeah, they also have the league’s biggest star. While they’ll be a topic of conversation regardless of performance — as we saw with last season’s shenanigans — their success could very well create a ripple effect that is beneficial to the league as a whole.
With stats like finals viewership still failing to come close to their pre-pandemic figures, the NBA will look to benefit from anything that will get eyes back on TV screens. If the Lakers continue this good form — and perhaps more importantly, continue providing the media with narratives to cover — it becomes more likely that fans will tune in to the team’s 39 nationally televised games. If they continue to see exciting action in those games, such as Tuesday’s Rui Hachimura poster or Anthony Davis’ denial of Rudy Gobert at the rim, they’ll likely feel more inclined to tune in to other matchups as well.
Getting more eyes on the league can never be a bad thing, and it’ll likely help your team out in the long run. When more people are watching the NBA, the stars are getting more attention, and teams are obligated to maximize their potential. Viewership creates buzz, and buzz creates the action we all look for as fans.
So, if you want this season to be as entertaining as possible, you may have to set your grievances aside and tune in to the team in purple and gold.
