How bad do the Lakers have to be to not be on national TV every night?

[liam]

How bad do the Lakers have to be to not be on national TV every night? They were always on last year and so far all of their games have been on. They stink and probably won't make the playoffs. The only reason to tune in is to hear how great LeBron is...

[Donoghus]

They're like the Cowboys.  They pull in ratings no matter what.  They're a national team.  The networks know this so they're gonna schedule them.

[Goldstar88]

They're like the Cowboys.  They pull in ratings no matter what.  They're a national team.  The networks know this so they're gonna schedule them.

Sure, when  they have a Kobe or a Lebron. Don’t recall them being on nearly as much in between.

[Donoghus]

They're like the Cowboys.  They pull in ratings no matter what.  They're a national team.  The networks know this so they're gonna schedule them.

Sure, when  they have a Kobe or a Lebron. Don’t recall them being on nearly as much in between.

I'm willing to bet they were still in the top 10 in scheduled national TV appearances in those gap years.

[bdm860]

They're like the Cowboys.  They pull in ratings no matter what.  They're a national team.  The networks know this so they're gonna schedule them.

Sure, when  they have a Kobe or a Lebron. Don’t recall them being on nearly as much in between.

I'm willing to bet they were still in the top 10 in scheduled national TV appearances in those gap years.

Just to back this up.

2014: Lakers were 27-55 and were in a 3-way tie for first in appearances (ABC/ESPN/TNT) with 25.

2015: Lakers were 21-63 and 5th in appearances with 20 (ahead of 67 win soon to be champion Warriors)

2016: The Lakers were 17-65 and tied for 7th with 19 appearances.

2017 Lakers: 26-56, post Kobe, still 9th.

To be fair though, there's only like 5 teams that fit perfectly in the West Coast time slot (Lakers/Clippers/Kings/Warriors/Blazers) with 3 more Mountain teams that can fit it in too, compared to 22 Eastern and Central time zone teams (10 Eastern, 12 Central) fighting for the early slots.

[Celtics2021]

They're like the Cowboys.  They pull in ratings no matter what.  They're a national team.  The networks know this so they're gonna schedule them.

Sure, when  they have a Kobe or a Lebron. Don’t recall them being on nearly as much in between.

I'm willing to bet they were still in the top 10 in scheduled national TV appearances in those gap years.

Yep.  For example, the 2016-2017 Lakers (the year after Kobe) had 23 scheduled national TV appearances, which tied for 9th, one fewer than the Celtics who were coming off a conference finals appearance and had added Hayward and Irving.

[Birdman]

LeBron is #1 draw and that’s why unfortunately

[SparzWizard]

Cuz they have 17 championships and is a Hollywood team and have divas like LeBron, Davis, and Westbrook

[SHAQATTACK]

LA is THE NBA ‘s money cow .   They have to have the biggest name most popular stars to keep the money flowing in .  They don’t have time to develop a team. Gotta keep the TV dollars coming.  Capitalism at its finest.  I imagine Clippers , Lakers , Warriors rake in more money for CA

I think they have their own pay for view channel with all Lakers games , etc.  ….Barf 

[Vermont Green]

It doesn't bother me.  I don't stay up that late anyway.

I suspect the Warriors and Suns will be on TV plenty this year.  No one cares about Utah, SAC, POR, etc.  Even SAN is still Central time zone.

[hwangjini_1]

The more games on TV for a bad LA the better. let the entire world revel in their crapocity!!! 

[radiohead]

A bit OT: Do you guys really think the Lakers don’t make the playoffs this year? The best thing about this season is that they don’t have any incentive to tank since the Pelicans have the right to swap picks with them. The Pels making the playoffs and the Lakers missing it will really be something.

[liam]

A bit OT: Do you guys really think the Lakers don’t make the playoffs this year? The best thing about this season is that they don’t have any incentive to tank since the Pelicans have the right to swap picks with them. The Pels making the playoffs and the Lakers missing it will really be something.

If The Lakers fall apart and get the number one pick and The Pels end up with Wembenyama it would serve the Lakers right!

[SparzWizard]

A bit OT: Do you guys really think the Lakers don’t make the playoffs this year? The best thing about this season is that they don’t have any incentive to tank since the Pelicans have the right to swap picks with them. The Pels making the playoffs and the Lakers missing it will really be something.

Think they will if they're fully healthy. Would be nice if they miss tho.

[Moranis]

A bit OT: Do you guys really think the Lakers don’t make the playoffs this year? The best thing about this season is that they don’t have any incentive to tank since the Pelicans have the right to swap picks with them. The Pels making the playoffs and the Lakers missing it will really be something.

The Lakers seem like a pretty clear playoff team if they can stay relatively healthy i.e. Davis and James both hit 60 games.  Even with all the intermittent playing time last year, they will still above .500 when both James and Davis played for them.  And they have a better and better fitting team around them this year.  If they'd actually pull the trigger on the Westbrook for Hield/Turner swap, they'd be really dangerous.