Luka Doncic's debut with the Los Angeles Lakers scored massive ratings for ESPN despite coming in a game that started at 10:30 p.m. ET and whose result was never in doubt.
The network's audience for Monday night's game, a 132-113 Lakers victory over the Utah Jazz, peaked at 2.55 million viewers. To put that into context, it was up 42 percent compared with last year's average NBA game on ESPN.
The game averaged 2.01 million viewers, according to Nielsen, and was the most-watched game of the day among the coveted demographics of males 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 years old.