The highly anticipated debut of Luka Dončić in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform proved to be a major success for ESPN. Monday night’s game against the Utah Jazz averaged 2.01 million viewers on ESPN, marking a substantial 42% increase compared to the network’s average regular season contest from the previous year. The audience reached its peak at 2.55 million viewers during the 11:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.
Luka Dončić’s @Lakers debut against the @utahjazz on Monday averaged 2.01M viewers pic.twitter.com/rioiHzzBhH
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) February 12, 2025
The game was also dominant in various key demographics, particularly among males aged 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54. According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, Dončić’s debut became the most-watched NBA regular season game on cable since Klay Thompson’s return to Golden State in November, which attracted 2.14 million viewers. This matchup was strategically added to ESPN’s schedule in anticipation of Dončić’s debut, following the previous Saturday’s Lakers game against the Indiana Pacers, where neither Dončić nor LeBron James participated due to injuries. That game drew just 1.39 million viewers, as noted by Sports Media Watch.
Monday night’s audience significantly surpassed the average viewership for typical late-window regular season games on ESPN. For instance, a recent Wednesday night game featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors averaged only 888,000 viewers, while a matchup between the Phoenix Suns and Warriors on the following Friday averaged 1.17 million viewers. It is noteworthy that ESPN rarely schedules NBA regular season games on Monday nights. Given the usual audience for such time slots on other weeknights, it can be concluded that Luka Dončić’s debut greatly increased ESPN’s typical viewership, although the continuation of this interest throughout the regular season remains to be seen.
