What happened to small markets? They're dominating

[90sgoat]

Minnesota, Oklahoma, Denver

That's your top 3 in the West. We've never seen that.

In the West we have Boston, Milwaukee and Philly.

What's going on?

Are teams just getting lucky with draft picks? Has social media changed the game?

Is it that non-american stars are now taking over and they don't care as much about where they play?

[Real Men Wear Green]

Boston and Philly are big markets. Regardless the NBA had intentionally created parity with salary cap and max deals. Minnie, OKC and Denver built their cores on the draft and trades, not signing big free agents.

[rmt]

The internet and social media have removed the stigma of small markets. Players no longer need to be in NY or LA to get exposure and big endorsement deals.

[ShawkFactory]

The internet and social media have removed the stigma of small markets. Players no longer need to be in NY or LA to get exposure and big endorsement deals.

Yea I think it’s that mixed with the added pressure of the huge media markets. If you can be exactly as recognized or respected playing in OKC the why would you want to play in New York?

[Real Men Wear Green]

Yea I think it’s that mixed with the added pressure of the huge media markets. If you can be exactly as recognized or respected playing in OKC the why would you want to play in New York?

Carmelo Anthony wasn't that long ago... but the situation wouldn't be equal right now. SGA will have a 400 million dollar deal on the table in 2027 and the Thunder will l be a good team. So even if the Knicks have max cap space they would need SGA to either accept a lot less money or force a trade that would leave the Knicks as a much worse team. That supermax makes it tough to leave even if a guy wants the glamor of New York. But if they didn't have the supermax and a better chance to win with the Thunder SGA would have to be tempted by the superior commercial opportunities.

And you can bet that the next time LA gets space they will get someone. With very few exceptions, whoever your star player is he grew up as a Kobe fan and wants to play in LA.

[Kblaze8855]

The big market thing was always weird and inaccurate. we spent years acting like Miami was one and Toronto wasn’t. It’s always just been teams considered desirable to play for. Lakers were. Clippers weren’t. We had people saying the warriors and Cavs could never win during the lockout to them being in 4 straight finals against each other.

A lot of factors decide if a team is desirable to play for and they change all the time.

[90sgoat]

Personally I think it's a lot of the things mentioned, but also that smaller market teams simply used to be run incompetently, think the Mavs.

The problem with smaller markets, like Mavs, are that for years they thought it was just about cap space or drafting that one unicorn, when actually it's about building from the bottom up and targeting players that fit their situation.

You want players that want to be there. You do not want neckbeard Zion who looked defeated on draft day.

Get players who want to be there, who will invest their personal life in the community and ball club, then you can go get your free agent. Players are people, it's easy to make a decision when you get a good vibe.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Dallas is not small market. You have a weird definition of that term.

[warriorfan]

The internet and social media have removed the stigma of small markets. Players no longer need to be in NY or LA to get exposure and big endorsement deals.

Good point

[Jasper]

with Indy toppling bucks last night Milwaukee will never get home court advantage against Boston in the ECF's.

Milwaukee will have to win two in Boston to get to the finals.