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NBA Blowouts Are Making Regular-Season Basketball Hard to Watch
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With margins of victory nearing two touchdowns and close finishes disappearing, the NBA faces a competitive-balance problem that threatens the value of every fan’s investment.
The NBA has a blowout problem, and it is becoming impossible to dismiss as an early-season oddity. Roughly 13 percent into the 2026-27 regular season, the average margin of victory sits at 13.8 points per game—nearly two touchdowns and on pace to become the most lopsided opening in league history.
That is not simply a trivia point for stat sheets. Fans buying tickets, subscribing to broadcasts or settling into a sports bar expect a competitive product with meaningful fourth quarters. Instead, too many games are effectively decided by halftime, leaving a league built around star power and nightly drama with a question it cannot ignore: why are so few NBA games staying close?
A Record Pace for Noncompetitive Games
The early numbers are alarming. The prior high for an NBA season’s average margin of victory was 13.4 points in 1949-50. This season is tracking beyond that mark at 13.8, following a previous season that already produced a record 13.3-point average winning margin. If this trend holds, the league would set a new average-margin record for a fourth consecutive season.
The imbalance reaches beyond the average. Through the first three weeks, there were 30 games decided by 30 points or more, compared with only 15 decided by three points or fewer. Nearly a quarter of the league’s games had been decided by 20 points, while 14 of 30 teams had not played a one-possession game. Those are not the numbers of a league consistently delivering suspense.
The Three-Point Math Has Raised the Stakes
The modern game’s reliance on three-pointers is central to the volatility. Nearly 40 percent of shots are coming from beyond the arc, creating a wider gap between teams that are hot and teams that are cold on a given night. When one club shoots 44 percent from three and another shoots 26 percent, the difference does not remain manageable for long; it can become a 25-point avalanche.
There is nothing wrong with celebrating the skill that reshaped the sport. Steph Curry’s greatness as a shooter has been a gift to basketball, and the three-point shot has expanded what players and offenses can do. But the league’s current shot profile can leave teams without a counterpunch. In an earlier style of play, a cold shooting team could slow the game, attack the post, get to the foul line and keep the margin within reach. Today, the response is often more threes, and the misses compound the problem.
Depth, Defense and Early Surrenders
The league’s worst teams are being exposed with unusual force. New Orleans absorbed a 51-point loss, 138-87, the largest beating of the young season. Chicago was losing by nearly 17 points per game, while Charlotte had already suffered three losses by more than 33 points after having none of that size all of last season. Milwaukee, meanwhile, was being outscored by 15 points a night.
The 82-game schedule and modern roster management also change how losses finish. Coaches increasingly pull starters when a team trails by around 22 points late in the third quarter or with eight minutes left in the fourth. That decision may protect players, but it turns a competitive 16-point deficit into a 32-point final. The league cannot expect fans to stay invested when the stars are sitting and the closing minutes are reduced to garbage time.
The NBA Must Protect the Fan Investment
The economic stakes are larger than one bad night of basketball. A close game keeps viewers engaged, keeps customers in the building and gives a national broadcast a reason to hold attention until the final possession. A routine blowout does the opposite. It invites fans to change the channel, leave the arena early or question whether the cost of tickets and streaming access matches the product on the floor.
Competitive balance was supposed to be aided by the salary cap and luxury-tax restrictions, yet the standings have still become top-heavy. Ten teams already held winning percentages of 70 percent or better, while thin rosters struggled to survive a star sitting out or having an off night. The league can debate more physical perimeter defense, point-differential incentives or other structural tweaks, but no rule can replace effort. Teams have to value stops, discipline and playing through the final buzzer as much as they value another corner three.
What It Means
The NBA does not need to abandon offense or punish the players who have made the game more skilled. It does need to recognize that 30-point track meets are not the same as compelling basketball. High-scoring games can be thrilling, but only when both teams have a credible chance to win deep into the fourth quarter.
For Commissioner Adam Silver and the league office, the task is clear: protect the competitive tension that makes regular-season basketball worth watching. Fans are not asking for every game to end on a buzzer-beater. They are asking for their time, money and loyalty to be met with a game that still matters when the final quarter begins.
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