I doubt you'll find many people who look down at watching the NBA saying they prefer to play basketball than watch others play

Video games offer a somewhat unique problem for spectators. Spectators are required, at some level, to be proficient in the game in order to appreciate it.

There is culture of experienced spectators training new generations in how the game is appreciated when it comes to physical sports. Where as, people learn video games because they're playing the video game. People don't normally spectate video games if they aren't gamers themselves.

That means, potential spectators of competitions are normally the player base of the game. How many different video games can people reasonably play in a year and be happy they played them? Of those games, how many are online team games? Of those online team games, how many are competitive enough to warrant some serious study in order to become more proficient at the game?

Gamers would never consider the majority of the games being actively played to be competitive on a serious level. It's not even a thought that goes through their head. Assuming they end up liking a high skill ceiling game; you not only have to convince them that the skill ceiling is high enough to warrant serious study, you also have to convince them that it's worth spectating.

Not exactly the same experience people have with basketball.