Shaquille O’Neal believes he has pinpointed the biggest reason behind the recent decline in NBA TV ratings, and he isn’t holding back on his opinions about the league’s current playing style.
Recent reports from Awful Announcing and Front Office Sports have highlighted a concerning trend: NBA viewership has struggled since the opening night of the season. While there could be numerous reasons for the drop in viewership, Shaq offered his own perspective on what he sees as the root cause of the problem during his latest episode of “The Big Podcast” on the DraftKings network.
According to O’Neal, the excessive reliance on three-point shots has fundamentally changed the game—and not for the better. He argued that the current playing style, in which teams attempt an inordinate number of threes, has made the games repetitive and ultimately less interesting to watch.
“It’s down because we’re looking at the same thing,” O’Neal explained. “Everybody is running the same plays. Steph Curry and those guys messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team isn’t a three-point shooting team. So why does everybody have the same strategy? I think it makes the game boring.”
Shaq’s comments reflect his frustration with what he sees as a lack of variety in how NBA teams approach the game. Instead of relying on different offensive styles, teams across the league have adopted the three-point-heavy strategy popularized by the Golden State Warriors. While this strategy works for teams with elite shooters like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, O’Neal believes that the widespread adoption of this approach has led to a more monotonous and predictable style of play.
“There are plenty of other reasons why NBA viewership has declined,” O’Neal added, acknowledging the broader issues affecting the league. He cited the dwindling number of cable and satellite subscribers, the perceived lack of stakes in a regular season that spans 82 games, and the sense that not every game feels like a meaningful competition where players are giving their best effort.
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Despite these other contributing factors, O’Neal emphasized that the overuse of three-point shooting is a major disruptor of the game’s natural flow. He feels that this shift away from a balanced style of basketball has contributed significantly to the league’s declining appeal.
“The game has already been perfect ever since Naismith created it,” O’Neal argued. “This new era of humans messed it up. Golden State came in and changed it, and you made a great point—it’s a copycat league. Everybody wants to be Steph Curry, but everybody’s not Steph Curry, and that’s why viewership is down. But these dudes need to wake up because if viewership is down, the money is gonna come down.”
O’Neal’s sentiments are not unique; his critique has been echoed by others in the basketball community. Legendary NBA writer Bob Ryan, for example, has long been vocal about his disdain for the three-point shot and its impact on the sport.
During a recent appearance on OutKick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich,” Ryan took a victory lap, reiterating his long-held belief that the three-point shot has fundamentally damaged the game.
“For me, the three-point shot is the single worst thing to happen to basketball in my lifetime,” Ryan said. “Let’s back up for a little history, OK? The ABA did not introduce the three-point shot; the ABA absorbed the three-point shot. It was a gimmick of a promoter, not something the NBA asked for.
That man was Abe Saperstein, the impresario of the Harlem Globetrotters, who founded a league in 1961 called the American Basketball League. He hoped it would rival the NBA, but it lasted only a year and a half before folding. The three-point shot was his gimmick to draw attention.”
Ryan went on to discuss the broader effects of the three-point shot on basketball. “I have long said that there will probably be a four-point shot in my lifetime, and the three isn’t going anywhere. What it does is distort the game at every level. It’s obviously reduced the impact of the post man. No more Kevin McHale. Folks, you’re going to have to dig out the films and go to YouTube to find out what a real post player was. You never see that again, and it’s changed the game. I just want balance.”
Ryan’s critique mirrors O’Neal’s concerns about the game’s evolution. The three-point revolution, which began as a strategic advantage for teams like the Warriors, has now become a league-wide trend that has shifted the focus away from traditional post play and inside scoring.
Players like Kevin McHale, who dominated in the post, have become relics of the past, and with them, the style of play that once defined the NBA has largely disappeared.
For both O’Neal and Ryan, the solution lies in returning to a more balanced style of play, one that doesn’t rely solely on the three-point shot but instead incorporates a variety of offensive strategies. They argue that by doing so, the NBA could restore some of the excitement and unpredictability that has been lost in recent years.
As the NBA continues to evolve, it remains to be seen whether the league will address these concerns or continue down its current path.
For now, Shaquille O’Neal and other critics will keep voicing their concerns in the hopes of seeing the game they love return to a more dynamic and engaging form of basketball.
