A Thursday grab bag

On Jokic's skivvies, James Harden's Game 2 and how fans can watch the Suns and Mercury going forward.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Here’s a Raphael! St. Michael from 1504-05. Not to be confused with Raphael’s St. Michael Vanquishing Satan. Get after it, Saint Mike!

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Games For the People

Last week, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported some very interesting news: the Suns and Mercury have ended their deal with their beleaguered regional sports network and will broadcast their games on over-the-air local television and via a streaming app.

The corporation that owns Bally Sports Arizona is going through bankruptcy amid a huge swoon for RSNs — about half of the NBA’s local broadcast partners are in trouble. Matt Ishbia, the new franchisee controlling the Suns and Merc, decided to pull the plug as it sounds like the contract was up. The idea is to trade the revenue from the RSN rights deal (which Windhorst reports as “tens of millions in guaranteed money per year”) for a much bigger potential audience where having a cable subscription or streaming bundle that includes the RSN isn’t required for local fans to see every game.

Stratechery’s Ben Thompson had a really smart take (per usual) on the decision to focus on audience over short-term revenue. I think he’s correct that this is a model that other teams will follow. Some franchises have flirted with additive streaming services allowing local fans to pay for access to games. We don’t know what the Suns will charge fans for their streaming app — maybe nothing! Maybe it will be completely ad-supported! Since the over-the-air content will be free for fans with cable subscriptions or streaming bundles that include local networks (which seems to be spotty), it’s quite possible that’s where the Suns will land on the streaming content.

We could see how some of this shakes out before the next Suns season given that the Mercury tip off this month. However, the company behind the existing RSN is suing the Suns and Merc for breach of contract, so this could be in legal limbo for at least the start of the WNBA season.

In any case, this seems like a really smart model for NBA teams and the NBA broadly. It’s not lost on me that parallel to this action, the NBA drastically lowered the price of League Pass this season and has been using its app to promote free access to playoff games otherwise broadcast on cable networks. It appears that instead of maximizing the values of its rights packages and immediate-term revenue, the NBA is trying to get more people to watch live NBA action. Seems like a good strategy to me!

By the way, it sounds like the rivalry between Ishbia and Cavaliers franchisee Dan Gilbert is real. Like really real.

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This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

The column itself is behind a paywall, but these screenshots tell you everything you need to know.

Just to be clear: every Nuggets fan and Denver local I have seen has disavowed this nonsense. Even the most hardcore Nikola Jokic partisans can’t ride with this. A real achievement in cringe.

I mostly feel bad for Jokic, who appears to be a deeply private person. There’s a sports columnist out here taking notes on his underwear patterns for use in a future piece? What in the world?