“Jokic is boring”: NBA fans buzz as Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese’s matchup beats out Nikola Jokic's Nuggets’ Championship viewership
Caitlin Clark is getting plenty of attention. She led her Iowa Hawkeyes to a win over LSU in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament on Monday night. It was a rematch of the previous national championship and drew plenty of national hype. The game lived up to the hype as Clark led Iowa to a win with 41 points and plenty tuned in.
The game was the most viewed in women’s basketball history. It had 12.3 million viewers at its peak. That number is higher than the average number of viewers for the NBA Finals last season when the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat in five games. Last year’s Finals drew 11.6 million viewers.
The fact that Caitlin Clark outdrew the highest competition in basketball was stunning news. Many fans reacted online to the TV numbers.
“Jokic is boring a f tbh. Yes he’s good, yes he’s consistent, but he’s the new Tim Duncan that’s all,” one fan wrote.
Some complained that Clark was getting too much attention. They wanted some credit for the stars of the LSU Tigers like Angel Reese.
“Damn tell the whole story, it wasn’t just Caitlin,” one fan wrote.
Some fans were more optimistic. They believe that Caitlin Clark could bring this kind of viewership to the WNBA when she goes to the next level after her college career.
“She’s going to get some viewers to the WNBA one day,” a fan wrote.
Other fans had some theories. Some said Nikola Jokić is not a star player in the way Clark is. Some people believe Jokić does not draw enough eyes because he does not do many commercials or care about his brand, which makes him less recognizable.
Caitlin Clark and Iowa sets ratings record
The Iowa vs LSU NCAA Tournament game was the most watched women’s basketball game of all time. It garnered 12.3 million viewers. It passed last year’s national championship between those two teams which gained 10 million viewers.
The game aired only on cable TV on ESPN and could be streamed with WatchESPN. The game passed the previous record for most watched women’s basketball game which was the 1983 national championship. It had 11.86 million viewers. It was the second ever national title in women’s basketball. How does that compare to other sporting events in the United States?
The game led by Caitlin Clark’s star power drew more viewers than many other mainstream sporting events. It garnered more viewership than the 2023 NBA Finals, the 2023 World Series, and any Thursday Night NFL game last season (TNF airs exclusively on Amazon Prime Video).
The game also outdrew almost every college football conference championship game, multiple bowl games and every regular season CFB game besides Ohio State vs Michigan.
Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals did outdraw the Iowa vs LSU game. The decisive game drew 13.08 million viewers.