Recently, the NBA released the numbers that their regional sports networks (RSNs) have been putting up in terms of television ratings. While a lot of NBA matchups get national coverage, these RSNs are the primary coverage sources for NBA teams at the local level, with NBC Sports Bay Area being the network covering the Warriors.

The RSN is the programming which features on-air analysts Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike, Dubs Talk host Grant Liffmann, sideline reporter Kerith Burke, and the pregame/halftime/postgame team of Bonta Hill, Dorell Wright, Chris Mullin, and occasionally Festus Ezeli. Top to bottom, the crew is one of the best in basketball, short of maybe the NBA on TNT, providing solid insight and a cast of former NBA players who at one point played for the Dubs (or, in Mully’s case, are legends in the Bay), but also for other teams. This may sound like a homer attitude, but the numbers don’t lie.

Recently, the Sports Business Journal’s research team ran the numbers on TV ratings from each of the major RSNs which cover their NBA teams locally. Of the 29 stations (not included are the Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, and Utah Jazz due to lack of data), NBC Sports Bay Area ranks number one in average rating as of 10 day ago for the 2021-2022 season… and it’s not particularly close, either:

For a local station, this is a pretty impressive devotion to sports. 7.63 is nothing to sniff at, especially when you look at how other stations are doing. As a reference point, the popular HBO TV series “Game of Thrones” averaged an 8.8 (which is ridiculous, I should add) during its 8-season run.

While this show was a cultural phenomenon to a certain degree, this Warriors’ season alone, despite the team’s rocky play in some stretches, is not far behind. The broadcast team is excellent, the team has the second-best record in the NBA, and the whole Bay Area is behind them. But why are people so tuned into Warriors basketball at the local level?

The reason may shock you.

Despite his recent slump, Steph Curry got another chance to show why the he’s the best show in basketball. You may have heard about this, maybe not, but Curry won this year’s All-Star Game MVP after putting up a 50-piece (just 2 points shy of the game record, which he was definitely gunning for at the end) and drilling 16 threes. Sure, it was an exhibition game, but it was one of the most electric performances in an NBA game regardless of how he got it.

To hit 17 shots total. 16 of them were triples. 7 of those came at or beyond 30 feet away from the basket.

Maybe that’s why he wears #30 on his jersey.

People want to watch the product that Steph Curry has brought to the game of basketball. He’s an anomaly, turning the most important skill in the game into its greatest show. It should not come as a surprise that self-proclaimed Curry disciple Darius Garland has his Cavaliers’ local Bally Sports Ohio in second on the RSN rating scale: There’s a ton of Steph-esque tendency in his game, although he’s traded the signature off-ball movement (which he can still absolutely do) for electric passing (which Steph has shown recently he is perfectly capable of) which makes you go “how did he even see that?".

NBC Sports Bay Area’s ratings lead makes enough sense on its own given the talent they employ on the broadcast side, but when you tack on the number 1 player people wanna see on the basketball court? It would be hard to make anything but first.

(Photo credit: NBAE / Getty Images)