The Boston Celtics raised their 18th banner this week after winning the championship in dominating fashion this past summer, but FS1 host Nick Wright was one of many scratching his head at the game that followed.

Boston blew out the New York Knicks on national TV, and Wright admitted on his What’s Wright podcast that despite the return of his once-favorite sport, he “didn’t feel the juice.”

The reason?

Wright feels the NBA is reaching a tipping point when it comes to the way teams approach winning versus what a league needs to survive.

“The reason NBA guys can make $60 million a year, the reason GMs make … well into the seven, some into the eight-figures a year is because the NBA is a super popular television product. That’s it,” Wright said. “All of the money is generated because it’s an entertainment product that people value.”

And right now, Wright feels the league is at risk of falling off its perch near the top of American sports’ fans passions.

Boston tied the record for made 3-pointers in a game as it attempted a once-unthinkable 61 treys in the win. While Wright acknowledged that because those shots are worth 50 percent more than 2-pointers, the way the Celtics play is “the best strategy,” he also emphasized that it is “terrible television.”

The NBA, Wright argued, needs to make like baseball and change rules to avoid a dip as fans tune out.

“I’m here to tell you, the league needs to change the rules,” Wright said. “Similar to what baseball did with the shift and the pitch clock and it paid immediate dividends, if your customer is telling you the product is getting worse even though the talent is getting better, then you need to adjust.”

“The league needs to change the rules…You are playing a dangerous, dangerous game.”@getnickwright on the state of the NBA: pic.twitter.com/qUSJrIYryR

— What’s Wright? with Nick Wright (@WhatsWrightShow) October 24, 2024

At the same time, Wright added to a chorus voices including Charles Barkley, Dan Patrick and Tony Kornheiser that continues to put pressure on the NBA for how it has devalued the regular season.

“Telling your customer going into day one of the season, Zion’s not ready, Embiid’s not ready, who knows when Kawhi’s going to be ready … you’re alienating your customer,” Wright said. “And I love the league, I love it. But this s**t is not sustainable. And this is where you need a war-time consigliere in Adam Silver. And if he isn’t one, then they need to find someone to assist him with it to make major structural shifts to the league.”

“How much money have the people who have season tickets paid to see this guy, who’s not out there playing? To me, this is consumer fraud.”

Tony Kornheiser weighs in on the 76ers’ plan for Joel Embiid this season: pic.twitter.com/ZhDvRxL0yu

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 24, 2024

Wright suggested eliminating high-efficiency corner 3s to even making dunks worth 3 to change what teams are incentivized to do on offense.

But he clarified that even if he may not know the fix, he knows the product right now is lacking.

“At its core, the NBA is at its best when dudes are flying over people, meeting them at the rim. That is when it’s at its best as a television product,” Wright said.

“A bunch of finesse guys hanging out at the 3-point line, hoisting 30-footers is not good TV. And everybody is damaged if the TV numbers, if the ratings, if the interest goes down. You are not lifetime-entitled to a top spot in the American consciousness … and you are going down a path where the games are less-compelling television and the fans are worried, do the players even care?”

However, NBA opening night was up six percent over 2023 and the league just signed a $76 billion media rights deal that will carry it for more than a decade.

While Wright focuses on the incentives for teams to win here, what incentives are there for the league to address fans’ concerns while it reels in record revenues?

That is the looming question that the NBA will have to address now that it has a new CBA in the bag and all that money coming in from Disney, Comcast and Amazon.

[What’s Wright with Nick Wright on YouTube]