The NBA finals drew viewership not seen since 1998

The NBA finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs drew an audience the league has not seen since 1998. An average of 19.6 million viewers per game - a number that in the era of streams, short clips and divided attention looks almost unbelievable. New York led the series 3:1, and San Antonio fought in the fifth game to stay alive. What is striking is that viewership jumped precisely when a giant city and a smaller market played - proof that the story, not just the size of the brand, fills the screens. When there is something to watch, people still sit down in front of the television.

Miami is ringing the door for Giannis again

The saga around Giannis Antetokounmpo gets a new chapter. According to the latest reports, the Miami Heat are preparing a package including Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Junior, one of Pelle Larsson or Kasparas Jakucionis, plus several future first-round draft picks. It sounds impressive on paper, but the question is whether Milwaukee even wants to let go of its biggest player and whether Giannis wants to go to Miami. With the Greek superstar, every summer begins the same story - ten clubs write offers, and in the end he most often stays where he is. Until he signs, this is just one more offer tossed into the air to see who catches it.

Doncic at the Lakers has started the summer work

The Slovenian ace Luka Doncic has returned home to Ljubljana after holding a meeting in Los Angeles with the management of the Lakers and the sporting department. On the table was the summer plan - reinforcement, priorities in the roster and preparation for the next season. After a turbulent year in which he changed jerseys and which was written about more than any basket of his, Doncic enters a summer in which the Lakers must build a team around him, not just have him. For a Balkan basketball player carrying the heaviest weight of expectation, a quiet summer in Ljubljana may be more important than any move on the market.

Macedonia's youth begin preparations for the Division B EC

Shortly after the end of the season and the final tournament in the M20 league, the head coach of Macedonia's men's youth basketball national team, Nikola Velev, has set the schedule of preparations ahead of the European Championship in Division B. This is the kind of work that rarely makes the headlines, and yet it is from here that senior internationals later emerge. Youth squads are where the future of Macedonian basketball is built - quietly, without cameras and without big transfer stories. What rises out of this generation will be seen only in a few years, but the beginning is now.

Dubai in the heart of Belgrade won the ABA League

The basketball players of Dubai wrote history - in the "Belgrade Arena" they beat Partizan 83:81 in the fourth game of the final and won the title in the ABA League 3:1 in the series. It is the club's first trophy, already in its second season in the Adriatic company. Partizan, after two home defeats, was left without a chance for a ninth title and ended the season without a single trophy. The symbolism is heavy for Belgrade: a team from the Middle East, with money that knows no border, comes into the heart of the region and takes a trophy that for decades was considered home turf. The ABA League is no longer just an exclusively regional story - capital has bought its way in there too.