NBA Finals has plenty of ‘star power’ with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
NBA commissioner Adam Silver talked about the “lack of star power” in the NBA Finals and how league can help raise the status of players.
- NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed concerns about small-market teams in the Finals, emphasizing the league’s focus on parity.
- Silver highlighted the new media rights deal, suggesting that TV ratings are less critical than overall engagement.
- Silver reiterated the league’s commitment to a level playing field, regardless of market size.
In Adam Silver’s pre-NBA Finals address Thursday night, he echoed the words of one Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.
“On the point of small markets,” Silver said, “Mayor Holt here in Oklahoma City I thought said it best. Of the 19,502 cities, towns and villages in the United States, Oklahoma City is larger than 19,482 of them. Said differently, about 300 million Americans live in cities smaller than Oklahoma City and Indianapolis, which is a bit larger. That means that 88% of Americans live somewhere smaller than these cities.”
All of the international reporters in the room, of whom there were many, didn’t know they’d be getting a lecture on the U.S. census.
But in these Flyover Finals, you can’t blame the league or the fine folks of Oklahoma City and Indianapolis for getting a tad defensive. After all, isn’t this what the NBA — with all of its team-building constraints — wanted? OK, maybe “wanted” is the wrong word.
But this is what the system created: Parity in the form of a Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals.
“It’s healthy for the league for all 30 teams to be constantly positioning,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “If you’re good, you have to navigate being good. If you’re not good, there’s systematic things that can help you. I think generally that’s good for the league.”
Pre-order book on Thunder’s run to NBA Finals
But what about the TV ratings???
Who cares?!?! The NBA has already signed a new media rights deal that will go into effect next season, one that will net the league roughly $76 billion, with a B, over the next 11 years, according to ESPN.
The league isn’t crying over this Finals matchup. It’s doing cartwheels across the court with stacks of cash falling out of its pockets.
“Ratings have changed from what they used to be,” Silver said. “Netflix is the most valuable pure play media company out there. Nobody in this room knows what their ratings are. We don’t even think in terms of ratings. We think maybe in terms of popularity, buzz around a program. We’re going through a transition and we’re going to work through that.”
After four consecutive Warriors vs. Cavaliers, Steph vs. LeBron reruns from 2015 to 2018, six teams have won the last six titles: Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, Celtics.
Either the Thunder or Pacers will become the seventh team to raise a banner in the last seven years.
As Silver noted, when Herb Simon bought the Pacers in 1983, two teams — the Celtics and Lakers — had accounted for 60% of the league’s titles.
Silver said his predecessor, David Stern, used to joke his job “was to go back and forth between Boston and L.A. handing out championship trophies.”
Silver, a New Yorker, and the rest of the league will get a tour of middle America over these next two weeks.
“It didn’t begin with me,” Silver said of the push for parity, “it began with David and successive collective bargaining agreements that we set out to create a system that allowed for more competition in the league with the goal being having 30 teams in position, if well managed, to compete for championships. That’s what we’re seeing here.”
Sam Presti and Kevin Pritchard, two roster-building extraordinaires, might push back a little on that. OKC positioned itself beautifully under the current CBA — equipped to keep its collection of homegrown stars as long as ownership is willing to foot the bill — but Presti and the Thunder have been burned by past CBAs (see: cap spike of 2016).
And still, even in the current environment, small markets are at a disadvantage. There are three ways in the NBA to acquire players — through the draft, trades and free agency — and only two of them are realistic options for the little guys.
The Thunder’s signing of Isaiah Hartenstein was an exception. OKC was able to outspend New York for Hartenstein, by far the biggest free agent fish the Thunder has snagged in its 17 years of existence.
But star players aren’t angling their way to Oklahoma City or Indianapolis the way they might to Los Angeles or Miami.
“The goal is that market size essentially becomes irrelevant,” Silver said.
Tanking, even with the flattened lottery odds, is still the best of bad options for small-market teams to land a star. It’s how the Thunder landed Chet Holmgren, but then again, he’s the only top-five pick on either squad.
Both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton were acquired via trade. Same goes for Jalen Williams — drafted with one of those Clippers’ picks — and Pascal Siakam.
OKC and Indiana might be exceptions — and exceptional in how they were pieced together — rather than examples for other small markets to follow. Good luck trying to replicate what either of these teams have done with the unique circumstances they were dealt.
“The goal isn’t necessarily to have a different champion every year … it’s to have parity of opportunity,” Silver said. “Hats off to Oklahoma City and (Indiana), two incredibly well-run franchises top to bottom that deserve to be here.”
And if the Thunder or Pacers managed to repeat as champs?
“I wouldn’t then be saying this isn’t working because I didn’t go to a different city to hand out a trophy,” Silver said. “I’d be saying that’s the system we wanted to create, as long as there’s a level playing field.”
Then, after citing Holt earlier in his news conference, Silver unintentionally repeated a Presti’ism.
“What we’re focused is on the process that goes into building the team, not the outcome,” Silver said. “The outcomes will be whatever they are.”
Even if it’s Oklahoma City vs. Indiana in the NBA Finals.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
