NBA legend LeBron James finally made his debut appearance on the New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce this week and the episode did not disappoint, as they hit on a number of great topics.
One of the funniest moments came when Jason Kelce asked James a simple question: Who owns Christmas? That stemmed, of course, from when James said after the Lakers' Christmas Day win over the Warriors last month: “I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.”
The NFL had three games on Christmas Day this season, including Travis Kelce's Chiefs beating the Steelers on the road.
James had a very honest answer for the Kelce brothers:
"I saw the f------ numbers after the fact—you guys kicked our ass, OK?" James said to the delight of the Kelces. "From a viewership standpoint you all kicked our ass. The games weren’t all as great as they should have been but when you have f------ Beyonce out there…"
Here's that funny moment from the podcast;
Bron was defending the NBA, but even he knows who really owns Christmas pic.twitter.com/806qpgU9yd
— New Heights (@newheightshow) January 15, 2025
The NFL did easily win the ratings war on Christmas, but the NBA put up good numbers, too. Here's more on that from Front Office Sports:
The NBA, however, did post positive viewership numbers on Christmas with an average of 5.32 million viewers, up 87% from last year, which cut its overall season viewership decline to 4% from 18%. The Lakers-Warriors clash was the league’s most-watched of the year, with an average of 7.76 million viewers.
Unsurprisingly, the NBA’s ratings paled in comparison to the over 26 million viewers the NFL’s two games drew on Netflix. The NBA fared better when comparing social media numbers—but the NFL also received a boost from the halftime performance of Beyoncé during the Ravens-Texans game.
So yes, football is king. Even King James knows it.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as LeBron James Makes Honest NSFW Admission About NFL Dominating NBA on Christmas Day.
