After one of the most mind-blowing, messiest summers in NBA history, the NBA season has finally returned. Chuck and Shaq are their usual arguing selves. NBA Countdown added the beloved Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor. Candace Parker, Dennis Scott, Greg Anthony, and crew are still giving that after-barbeque-porch-talk style pregame show that has honestly become a part of Tuesday routines. And yet, a good portion of fans are missing the action.

Viewership across ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV are down 15% year-to-year overall, according to Nielsen figures. TNT's coverage is averaging 1.3 million viewers through 14 telecasts, down 21% versus last year's comparable coverage, while on ESPN, the picture isn't much prettier, down 19%, averaging 1.5 million viewers versus just under 1.9 million viewers at the same stage last year.

So you have to wonder, what's happening?

Well, there have been a lot of injuries. The Brooklyn Nets will be without their newly acquired star Kevin Durant for the entire season. The rookie, who had a special camera angle “Zion Cam” solely for him while at Duke, Zion Williamson, has been out since training camp. The Wizards’ fast-paced, sometimes drama laced point guard John Wall is still sidelined behind his Achilles tear from last season.

But those injuries affect teams who don't have many nationally televised games. The Nets have 12 for the entire season, only having three when the ratings were released. The Pelicans only had four nationally televised games before the release of the ratings, while the Wizards had one. Along with this, these teams generally didn't bring in a large number of ratings last season.

So did these injuries play a significant factor?

Maybe, but most likely not. Who did have what felt like a load of nationally televised games and brought in an enormous amount of viewership last season is the team from the Bay Area.

A contributing factor to the league's ratings struggles has been the Warriors' injury woes-- more importantly the injury to Stephen Curry. The Curry-less Warriors currently find themselves at the very bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 5-19 record. After dominating the league for the last five years and drawing hefty ratings in the process, it would appear that the Warriors' dynasty is crumbling and their ratings draw along with it-- all thanks to a broken metacarpal.

Stephen Curry has emerged to be one of the most beloved athletes on the planet. From his exciting play on the court, social media perfect family, and different philanthropic endeavors, fans can't get enough of the Bay Area's superstar.

So just how much has Curry's absence affected ratings?

Well, the Warriors have led the NBA television ratings for the past four years, mainly behind the offensive magic powered by Curry. And those ratings were fueled by fandom, or what social media likes to call bandwagoners. In 2015-18 Curry had the top-selling jersey, and in 2019 he had the second most popular jersey in the league-- according to data from the NBA Store.

As well as becoming one of the most popular players in terms of gear, Curry has lead All-Star voting for the past five years as well. Curry and Lebron James have flipped between first and second in All-Star voting since the 2014-15 season, with Curry coming out on top 2016, 2017, and 2018 according to Basketball-Reference.

And when you love something, you have to mimic it. In any gym in America, you can find kids of all ages parodying the infamous Curry pregame ball-handling series. AAU and college teams have adopted the fast-paced outside-in style of play. And players all over the globe hopelessly attempt the look-away three-pointers, creating endless blooper real moments for social media to consume and digest.

It's easy to see how Curry has changed the game of basketball in the NBA-- with teams mimicking and designing rosters to beat Curry and his Warriors for the past five years-- but the real glory in this revolution reached past the professional level. To put this into perspective, look at the NCAA.

NCAA Men's Basketball three-point attempts have risen 20% in the last four seasons of play according to the NCAA's statistic database. College basketball is now dominated by versatile lineups with multifaceted offensive teams, attempting an average of 24 three-pointers per game. The three-point line has transformed from a gimmick to a game-changer, thanks to the Bay Area's Stephen Curry.

Per the Sports Reference website, in the entire 2012-13 season, there were just eight games in which one of the teams attempted at least 40 threes—four of which only got that high because of an overtime period.

Mid-way through the 2018-19 season, there were 68 instances when a team attempted at least 40 threes, including a Dec. 1 game between Marist College and The Citadel in which both sides tried at least 40 triples in regulation. Furthermore, Savannah State is averaging 40.8 three-point attempts per night, according to NCAA.com.

There are 351 teams in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball, and each team averages 32.8 total games played. In the 2018-19 season, teams attempted an average of 736.5 three-pointers a game, while connecting on an average of 254.5 threes-shooting 34.5% from behind the three-point line.

That change and influence stretches outside of the NCAA, and even the United States. Curry and his style of play have become an international sensation. Some of this can be attributed to the Bay Area's large Chinese American population, in which the Warriors’ owner Joe Lacob wanted to make a point to honor by scheduling games in China throughout Curry's career.

In 2013, the Dubs became one of the first NBA teams to start an account on Sina Weibo, the popular Chinese microblogging service, and to create a website in simplified Chinese. Their 3.77 million followers on Weibo leads all NBA teams.

In 2013, with the help of a translator, Curry did a 45-minute Weibo chat from his hotel room on a regular-season road trip. When the All-Star voting results were released weeks later, he had gone from No. 4 to No. 2 among Western Conference guards.

"The crazy thing is that we were really just trying to make a name for ourselves as an organization at that time," said Chip Bowers, Golden State's chief marketing officer. "It just goes to show the power of the NBA fan base in China."

Along with the team's effort to connect internationally, Curry himself goes on an Asia Tour every summer as a part of his Under Armour promotions. While on his tour, he has been seen playing pickup with fans in Shanghai, doing karaoke in Hong Kong, and even making fun of his fellow Splash Brother in China.

In 2016, news surfaced that Curry had dethroned the retired Kobe Bryant for China's best-selling NBA jersey, which was huge. Every year from 2006 to 2016, Bryant visited China on promotional tours for Nike. His commercials for everything from Smart Car to Sprite to, of course, Nike have been mainstays on Chinese TV. In 2008, during the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, Bryant starred in a six-episode reality show in China called "Kobe Mentu," or "Kobe's Disciples." A year later, Bryant created the Kobe Bryant China Fund and donated roughly $700,000 to relief efforts after an earthquake in Sichuan province which killed more than 87,000 people. Curry jumping Bryant, was reminiscent of the great Greek torch race.

Curry's likeness around the world has many factors, like some of his promotional tours and social media activities with his family, but the driving force behind his popularity is his game.

Stephen Curry is unlike anything we've seen on the court. He isn't big or freakishly athletic, but he offensively dominates the game on the same level as some of those big, godly athletic all-time greats we've romanticized. The fast-paced, three-laced offense that Curry leads has become highlight heaven for hoop-heads and casual fans alike.

And the best part about Curry's game is the fundamentals behind it. For a casual fan, any highlight type play is exciting, but for hoop-heads, Curry is unique because his brand of basketball is good basketball. He moves without the ball, plays within the offense, gets his teammates involved, doesn't live on the free-throw line, scores efficiently, and has fun while doing all of it. Curry's style of play is exciting and fundamentally beautiful all at the same time, creating a must-see show no matter who the Warriors are matched up against.

All of these reasons are probably why ESPN, TNT, and NBTV chose to have the Warriors featured so much this season-- despite Klay Thompson being out the whole season and Kevin Durant leaving for Brooklyn. These networks knew that Curry brings in an enormous fan base and exciting basketball. Without Curry, that fanbase hasn't been turning the tv on, and subsequently, ratings have suffered.

ESPN sees this and has acted accordingly. The league announced two upcoming Warriors games would be flexed out of national television. Dec. 13 in Utah and Dec. 17 in Portland no longer will be televised on ESPN.

Not a shocker considering the Dubs are in a battle with the New York Knicks for the title of the league's worst team-- record wise. We can expect to see more of this as the season goes on, until--or if--Curry decides to lace ‘em up again at some point in the season.

Curry's absence has affected many storylines and expectations this season, ultimately affecting ratings in the process. Granted, there is a load of other situations that may factor into these ratings, such as load management, but you do have to say that the absence of the mid-major legend that might've changed the game of basketball is a very significant factor.