How do they pick what becomes a nationally televised game?

Do they think about what would be most exciting to watch? Or do they just think about the most popular teams?

When I look at the games that are nationally televised on espn or tnt, it befuddles me.

And btw, did we have one yet? or is our first one vs. Chicago?

we were one of the first nationally televised games in the beginning of the season when we played the jazz. we have had a couple already in fact. one against the suns for obvious reasons and one against the mavs as well. im sure they do it for excitement, matchups, and rivalries. for example, on xmas it was the blazers vs the sonics cuz it was supposed to be oden vs durant and miami vs cleveland for the wade vs lebron matchup. there was a day it was portland vs miami for a oden vs shaq matchup. they have playoff rivalries playing also. so in a word...yes. the televised games are usually scheduled that way..however there are some that are just there cuz every team has to have at least 2 games nationally televised.

i dont know exactly how many have already passed, but i know we're supposed to have about eleven throughout this season.

We also had an ESPN game against the Lakers. ESPN showed Kobe on the bench more than they did the actual game.

It has to do with how many people are projected to watch the games.