"Cash cow Curry" - NBA fans hail Steph Curry's impact on NBA ratings amid record viewership this season

Four-time NBA champion and future Hall of Famer Steph Curry's return to action this week led to the NBA's highest viewership ratings of the past two weeks, according to Sports Media Watch.

After previously missing three straight games due to an ankle injury, Curry returned to national TV on Wednesday when Golden State faced off against the Boston Celtics.

While the defending champions have been on a tear in the Eastern Conference, Curry led the Warriors to their seventh win of the season with 27 points. This game drew in an average of 2.14 million viewers on ESPN. This, of course, comes on the heels of reports that viewership on TNT and ESPN are down this season.

Despite an uptick in viewership for opening night, as a whole, viewership has been down since the start of the year. Given that, the NBA community was quick to weigh in on the latest reports of Steph Curry providing a much-needed ratings boost.

"Cash Cow Curry!" - One fan wrote.

"Happens when the REAL FACE of the league plays" - Another added.

"The Steph Curry effect" - One wrote.

Others shared opinions on the viewership discrepancy and why the game attracted so many viewers:

"The Steve Kerr & Jayson Tatum narrative played a big role in that too" - One wrote.

"Nah it’s cause everyone wanna see the Celtics play the warriors" - Another added.

"It’s because Warriors vs Celtics is MUST SEE TV" - One added.

Ratings from Steph Curry and Golden State's game vs Boston contradict Shaquille O'Neal's theory on NBA ratings

The NBA's reported ratings struggles have been a major source of discussion and debate among the NBA community. Some attribute the drop in ratings to the rise of pirated streaming sites.

With illegal sites becoming increasingly popular and easier to access, fans are ditching cable subscriptions and the league is losing viewers.

On the other hand, people like Shaquille O'Neal attribute the drop in viewership to the number of 3-pointers players are taking. While the average number of shots per game hasn't gone up drastically, the percentage of those shots that are taken from downtown has increased.

Because of that, Shaq believes fewer fans are watching. On the latest episode of "The Big Podcast," released on Thursday, he shared his theory:

"I have a theory. It’s down because we’re looking at the same thing; everybody is running the same plays. At the damn top of the key, dribble hand-off. I was talking to a coach … He said they want to shoot 50 threes … We want to make about 10 or 15 of them."

Despite that, it's clear that fans tuned in to watch Steph Curry and the Warriors take on the Boston Celtics this week.

This directly contradicts Shaq's theory about fans not wanting to watch teams take 3-pointers, considering the Celtics lead the league with an average of 51.2 threes per game this season. In addition, Golden State is in fourth place on the list with 41.0 3-point attempts per game.

While there could be several contributing factors to the league's drop in viewership, it's clear that fans want to tune in to watch Steph Curry play.