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Lakers F Lebron James and Warriors G Stephen Curry will be “a fixture of nationally televised NBA games” this season, according to Des Bieler of the WASHINGTON POST. The Lakers are “resuming their annual role as a flagship franchise” and have had 39 games televised on ABC, ESPN, NBA TV or TNT — more than any other team. The Warriors are second with 36 nationally televised games, followed by the defending champion Celtics with 34 (WASHINGTON POST, August 15). YAHOO SPORTS’ Jack Baer noted that the Lakers have been ranked first or second in NBA national TV games since James arrived in town for the 2019-2020 season. However, this is the “first time since 2021-22 that the team has topped the list,” as the Warriors have been ranked first for the past two seasons. Baer noted that the Lakers suffered a “humiliating first-round loss” to the Nuggets in last season’s playoffs. While TV networks “want good teams on their schedule, they mostly want big names.” The Warriors’ ranking second after missing the playoffs last season “makes a lot more sense when you replace their name with Stephen Curry” (YAHOO SPORTS, 15.8.). In Miami, Barry Jackson wrote that “Warriors-Lakers are being forced upon us on Christmas Eve” because ABC wants James and Curry, “even though their teams are more play-in quality than contenders” (MIAMI-HERALD, 15.8.).

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE THUNDER: In Tulsa, Berry Tramel noted that the Thunder have been granted only 15 nationally televised games, putting OKC at 11th in the league, even though Las Vegas gives the Thunder the second-best odds to win the 2025 championship. The NBA is “not out to conquer Oklahoma City or Oklahoma State or small markets.” Tramel: “Welcome to the border. Welcome to flyover country.” The team “has no huge market, no championship pedigree (at least not yet) and no polarizing superstar.” Tramel wrote that the Thunder “fall behind not only the usual suspects — Lakers, Celtics, Warriors, Knicks — on the national television stage, but even the Suns and Timberwolves” (TULSA WORLD, August 16).

NO HEAT WAVE: In Fort Lauderdale, Ira Winderman noted that a year after making 16 national broadcasts on ESPN, TNT or ABC this season, the Heat “have only seven such appearances on their schedule, including only one before January 15.” Winderman added that the Heat “are no longer being cast as major players by the NBA.” The team will have no Christmas game, no game on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no appearances on ABC’s national schedule and “only two appearances on TNT, both as star appearances” by the Bucks (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, Aug. 15).