The ESPN NBA staff appears to have learned an old lesson the hard way: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
All season, hoops fans have griped about the network’s cluttered update to the layout of its NBA box scores. On the ESPN website and app, box scores were updated to split offensive and rebounds apart as well as two-point and three-point shooting. The result was a counterintuitive display in which basic data like a player’s shooting percentage were hidden away.
And just one day after the network’s top NBA game analyst, Tim Legler, echoed fans’ complaints and pledged to run them up the chain of command at ESPN, it appears the company has acted.
Now, when fans open the ESPN app, points are listed first, followed by field-goal shooting and lump sums for rebounds, assists, steals blocks and turnovers. Users have to flip the “All Stats” switch to see offensive and defensive rebounds split out as well as free-throw shooting.
The X account of Legler’s All NBA podcast posted the update and celebrated Legler’s efforts to get ESPN to revert back to the old format.
A man of the people who delivers on his word! The old box scores are back 🙌 https://t.co/H2am13PLpp pic.twitter.com/08I3Jq2hix
— ALL NBA Podcast (@ALLCITY_NBA) November 13, 2025
The switch-back may have caused some hiccups. At the time of publish, the web version of a recent NBA box score appeared to be broken, with points listed first, followed by offensive rebounds and then personal fouls.
At this point, nearly every sports media outlet and league has its own app with box scores. But because ESPN was one of the first to the party and its app contains news, analysis and video content as well as live ESPN content, it is most fans’ go-to.
Similar to the way in which fans despise new score bugs, the uproar in response to ESPN changing the NBA box score layout is likely just a resistance to change. Still, it is strange to think that ESPN would not have brand research data to show how much fans liked the old box score.
Lesson learned.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.