LeBron James and James Harden Pushed Aside By Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold

With the NFL Draft, and its array of fascinating storylines upon us, it is interesting to note the type of impact the event had on Wednesday’s NBA playoff schedule. 

Wednesday night, the NBA had a rare weeknight quadruple header, a scheduling scenario usually reserved for the weekend. This included two games each on TNT and NBATV, with NBATV not available to every cable/satellite subscriber in the country.

The lone contest on Thursday involves the Celtics and Bucks, with neither market picking very high in the draft (Packers-14) (Patriots-31). If the Celtics Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were not out of action, this game may have found its way out of the Thursday night slot as well

Wednesday night featured many of the league’s biggest stars, including LeBron James, James Harden, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler and John Wall, among others.

It is clear that the NBA was afraid of losing a good chunk of their audience to the NFL’s late April extravaganza.