Sorry, NBA fans. You’re all going to have to spend Thanksgiving – take a deep breath here – talking to your family instead of watching basketball games.
After a ranking of 13 games on Wednesday night, no games will be played on Thursday. Teams will return to play on Friday, but why is every NBA player getting the break so early in the season? Surely some will sit down and watch the hoops while slaying fresh turkey and mashed potatoes.
Well, the answer to that question is actually quite simple.
NBA POWER RANKINGS: What each team is most grateful for when entering the holiday season
Why are there no NBA games on Thanksgiving?
The NBA has never officially stated why it stopped scheduling Thanksgiving games, but it’s not hard to find a logical explanation: the NFL exists.
Yes, football has owned the fourth Thursday of November for several years now. The NBA just isn’t interested in getting into a ranking war with the NFL, as the latter league continues to yield terrible numbers.
From Sports Media Watch’s analysis of the 2020 NFL Thanksgiving games:
Even with sports ratings falling, Thanksgiving tradition discouraging, one game postponed and not a single team at .500, the NFL’s Thanksgiving games have generated massive viewership .
The Washington-Dallas NFL Thanksgiving Day game averaged ratings of 12.0 and 30.33 million viewers on FOX, ranking it as the most watched show on television since the Super Bowl. Washington’s win has averaged more viewers than any non-NFL show since the 2017 Academy Awards (32.9 million) and any non-NFL sporting event since Game 7 of the World Series 2016 (Cuba Indians: 40.05 million). …
Earlier in the day, Texans-Lions averaged 23.39 million on CBS – the least watched Thanksgiving afternoon game since 2009 (Packers-Lions: 21.99 million) but still the fourth most watched game for the whole season (excluding Sunday games).
NBA has use a similar strategy When it comes to award-winning “NBA on TNT” programming, choose to avoid showing online games this season at the same time as the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” broadcast.
Instead of going head-to-head with Thursday night’s NFL games, @NBAonTNT Entering this season with a changeover of Ernie, Shaq, Kenny and Charles and the weekly duo they feature on Tuesday nights for the rest of 2021 for the first time. https://t.co/EjxXlOUpfN
– Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 27, 2021
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NBA Post-Thanksgiving Fixtures
Do not worry. NBA action will be back soon. Here is the full schedule for the weekend.
Friday, November 26
| Game | Time (ET) | National Television |
| Pistons vs. Clippers | 3:30 pm | – |
| Timberwolves vs. Hornets | 7 pm | – |
| Suns vs. Knicks | 7 pm | – |
| Bulls vs. Magic | 7 pm | – |
| Raptors vs Pacers | 8pm | – |
| Hawks vs. Grizzlies | 8pm | – |
| Wizards vs. Thunder | 8pm | – |
| Celtics vs. Spurs | 8.30pm | – |
| Bucks vs. Nuggets | 9 pm | NBA TV |
| Pelicans vs. Jazz | 9 pm | – |
| Trail Blazers vs. Warriors | 10 give me | – |
| Kings vs. Lakers | 10:30pm | – |
Saturday, November 27
| Game | Time (ET) | National Television |
| Timberwolves vs 76ers | 6 pm | – |
| Knicks vs. Hawks | 7:30 pm | – |
| Suns vs Nets | 7:30 pm | NBA TV |
| Magic vs. Cavaliers | 8pm | – |
| Heat vs. Bulls | 8pm | – |
| Hornets vs. Rockets | 8pm | – |
| Wizards vs. Mavericks | 8.30pm | – |
| Pelicans vs. Jazz | 9 pm | – |
Sunday, November 28
| Game | Time (ET) | National Television |
| Warriors vs. Clippers | 3:30 pm | – |
| Bucks vs. Pacers | 5 p.m | – |
| Celtics vs Raptors | 6 pm | – |
| Kings vs. Grizzlies | 6 pm | – |
| Pistons vs. Lakers | 9:30 pm | – |
