The traditional Christmas Day NBA coverage on ESPN and ABC averaged 4.3 million viewers against all-day NFL coverage, up 5% from last year’s numbers. The Celtics’ win over the Bucks in the 5pm ET window drew the largest audience of 6 million viewers, peaking at 6.8 million toward the end of the game. It was up 16% from the comparable Warriors-Suns game last year. The first game of the day, 76ers-Knicks in the noon window, averaged 4 million viewers to become the most-watched early game since 2011 (that marked the first NBA game of the season due to a lockout). That game also benefited from a ManningCast-style alternative feed on ESPN2 featuring Stephen A. Smith.
| NBA Christmas Day viewership | |||
| NETWORKS | MATCHUP | START (ET) | VIEWERS (000) |
| ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 | 76ers-Knicks | 12:00pm | 4,082 |
| ABC/ESPN | Lakers-Mavericks | 2:30pm | 4,333 |
| ABC/ESPN | Bucks-Celtics | 5:00pm | 6,033 |
| ABC/ESPN | Grizzlies-Warriors | 8:00pm | 4,700 |
| ABC/ESPN | Suns-Nuggets | 10:30pm | 2,485 |
