It was a Thursday night game in early March featuring an Eastern Conference team on the fringe of title contention and a Western Conference team sitting at 14-48, comfortably the worst record in the NBA.

But Stephen Curry made his return from injury. So naturally it was one of the highest-rated NBA games of the year.

After the superstar Warriors guard missed a little over four months with a broken hand, his first game back earned averages of a 1.2 rating and 1.86 million viewers on TNT. It’s the channel’s 10th-most-watched game of the season thus far and their highest rated non-Lakers game in months.

As the numbers suggest, having No. 30 back in uniform is a massive boom for the NBA, especially this season. NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the harm of Curry’s injury back in December with a sentence that was at least in part a reference to the six-time All-Star. 

“Nothing is more important [to ratings] than the players on the court,” Silver said.

The league has experienced a ratings drop across all networks this season, and there are several factors. They include the rise of load management, the delayed debut of Zion Williamson and the media placing too much focus on certain storylines. But as WarriorsTalk’s very own Candice Evans previously noted, the absence of Curry is just as relevant as anything else. And why wouldn’t it be? He is a draw for fans all around the league. Kids look up to him and adults love his style of play. Regardless of rooting interest, Curry creates an intrigue around any game that he participates in.

To understand Curry’s true impact on television ratings, one need look no further than the local ratings for the Warriors themselves, which have fallen off a metaphorical cliff this season. Yes, the team’s rough 2019-2020 campaign in and of itself is a major reason for the ratings decline. But without Curry (whose absence is arguably the biggest reason for said campaign), viewership is almost certain to go down regardless of Golden State’s record. He’s just that impactful and meaningful to the Warriors at this point in time.

The rest of the NBA acknowledges Curry’s impact as well and knows that the league is better when he plays. Executives and top players have said as much.

“Happy to see [Curry] back out there again!” LeBron James stated via tweet. “Nothing like being in your sanctuary! The game missed you.”

Curry doesn’t just bring viewership, he brings hype. His return game was against the Toronto Raptors, who hold a record of 44-18 and a narrow grasp on the second seed in the Eastern Conference. They have fantastic narratives this season surrounding players such as Pascal Siakam. And, of course, they are the defending champions who are still very much relevant despite losing Kawhi Leonard, their star player from last year.

On Thursday, Mar. 5, none of that mattered. The entire marketing and coverage of the game surrounded Curry. The only thing that anyone really cared about was the fact that he was back. A roster consisting mostly of G League-caliber players and fringe NBA guys was the center of the basketball universe, simply because of one man joining them on the court. Toronto won in an exciting contest at Chase Center, but Curry’s performance dominated the in-game and postgame analysis. When someone that big ends a 58-game absence, it’s all that anyone can talk about.

Stephen Curry is arguably the biggest ratings getter in the entire NBA. The only player who unquestionably gets more is James. But after him, the skinny kid from Davidson creates attention in a way basically no one else can. A game like the one on Thursday night all but proves it.