Courtesy USA Today

(February 23, 2011) Outside the almighty NFL, mainstream sports usually need gifts from the gods — the emergence, say, of Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods— to get big across-the-board TV ratings jumps.

So what's going on with the NBA? At midseason, its ratings are up 26% on TNT and 15% on ESPN— and, albeit in a smaller sample, up 32% on ABC. Even in its proven bastions, ratings are jumping: TNT's ratings in Boston are up 50%, while ESPN is up 39% in Los Angeles.

The intuitive answer is that LeBron James' less-than-low-key announcement he was bestowing his talents on Miami created a mid-summer buzz — as ESPN parachuted into the Heat's training camp — when the NBA usually doesn't generate much yak.

At the local level, James' migration created just a ratings hiccup. In Miami, TNT's ratings are up 65% and up 27% on ESPN. But that's pretty much a wash, given NBA ratings in Cleveland are off 23% and down 38% on TNT — not surprisingly, TNT's biggest drop among all NBA cities.

While NBA ratings are hardly enormous — TNT and ESPN games each average just 1.5% of U.S. households — the league's roll goes well beyond any halo effect from the Heat.

Leagues always talk about how their young stars will bolster fan interest. But in Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Minnesota's Kevin Love, that's happening. In Oklahoma City, TNT's ratings are up 150% — its biggest ratings jump among NBA cities — while ESPN's 59% hike in the Twin Cities constitutes its biggest boost among NBA cities.

Having good teams in some big markets also helps — both ESPN and TNT ratings are up 30% in Chicago — as does having a not-horrible team in New York. And networks will no doubt try to turn Carmelo Anthony's trade to the Knicks into a ratings booster rocket. TBS, TNT's corporate cousin, just happened on Monday to have Anthony and Knicks star Amar'e Stoudemire, separately, on its Conan O'Brien and George Lopez shows.

And then, there's ratings luck: ESPN Sunday has Knicks-Heat (8 p.m. ET) — which ESPN might hype just a tad.

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