• by Wayne Friedman , April 20, 2020

ESPN may not have any live NBA games, but it has Michael Jordan and a 10-part documentary “The Last Dance” -- one that has posted the highest numbers ever for the most-watched documentary event on the sports network.

The first two episodes of “The Last Dance” --- which focused on the 1997-1998 NBA season as well as Jordan's career, his legacy and the Chicago Bulls --  averaged a Nielsen-measured 6.1 million viewers Sunday in prime time on ESPN and ESPN2.

The first episode at 9 p.m. posted 6.3 million viewers, and the second episode at 10 p.m. scored 5.8 million.

The two-hour opening-night event earned a strong 2.7 rating among adult 18-49 viewers -- the top TV show on Sunday night over all other TV networks.

NBA suspended its season back in March due to COVID-19. The documentary series had been scheduled to start June 2 -- just before the first game of the scheduled NBA Finals on June 4.

Top advertisers on the premiere night, according to iSpot.tv, included State Farm (with 10 airings of its commercials); Reese’s (8 airings); Facebook (4 airings); NBA (4 airings); Portal-Facebook (4 airings); Skyrizi (3 airings); and the NFL Network (2 airings).