Small Market Teams in the NBA



      If one were to mention the popularity of the NBA, the first teams to come to one's mind would be large market teams, such as the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. Despite not having any regular or post-season success, they are continually brought up in talk shows discussing everything that comes to mind: possible free agents, TV ratings and revenue, etc. In order for smaller teams to become relevant in the media, they first have to become successful in the league, such as the Milwaukee Bucks who have made headlines as the #1 record from seemingly out of nowhere.

      However, what happens to small market teams who are not as successful? This is where the NBA has met a lot of criticism. In order for small market teams to compete, it becomes necessary to have some level of talent, preferably young players who are projected to have a future promoting the team. As a result, many teams who have less talent turn to the annual draft to pick up new talent. However, this where the problem arises. In order to have a greater chance of receiving a top draft pick, many teams try to lose as many games as possible in order to attain the worst record, also known as tanking. This is problematic for two reasons: not only does it ruin the integrity of the league, but some teams simply cannot afford to tank. Since attending games is a large source of income, if a team is intentionally losing games, they will not be popular enough to sell enough tickets. On the other hand, trying to compete as a team aiming for a top draft pick is counter-intuitive, which leaves small market teams trying to figure out this problem. 

      Now, what happens if a team successfully drafts an upcoming star? You would think that the team's problems would be over. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Because the NBA has evolved into one of the greatest team sports, having a single star player is usually not enough to succeed. This means that after successfully drafting such a talent, teams will rush to try and surround that player with other players in order to try and win as much as possible. Unfortunately, that time frame is becoming smaller and smaller. The growth of the NBA in terms of its revenue, as well as the astounding contracts that some players are earning (Stephen Curry, James Harden, etc.) are enticing these young stars. They view big market teams and their increased national coverage as an easier way to spread their brand, thus giving them less incentive to stay loyal to the small market team that drafted them. The number of cases like this is has been a common trend and is only continuing to grow more relvant: the Orlando Magic losing Shaq, the recent news about the New Orleans Pelicans and Anthony Davis, and the Cleveland Cavaliers losing Lebron James - twice.

     Because there is no easy fix, this issue is something that the NBA is continually attempting to address. For example, just this past year they passed a new rule - that the bottom 3 teams would all have an equal chance for the #1 draft pick. However, this still doesn't fully address the growing equity divide between large market teams and small market teams, as well as the top and the bottom. The situation is so relevant for small market teams that some people have gone as far as to call it the "NBA purgatory", simply because any direction made by these teams could be seen as a bad move.

    What do you think can be done to fix this issue?


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Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 26, 2019 at 12:42 AM

    Cool post Matthew! This is super relevant especially with the Playoffs going on, and I think it really goes to show that teams with large markets tend to do significantly better. This sparked my curiosity to delve in deeper and I found that this fight for more small-market team representation has been on going. However, it is definitely not to say that small-market teams are unable to be viable in the current state of NBA competition. For example, Giannis Antetokounmpo is currently leading the Bucks, a small market team, as one of the leading contenders for the Eastern conference. While money definitely is a main attractive point for many players in choosing teams, players like Giannis or Russel Westbrook for example want to bring championships to small-market teams instead of just chasing after money. As a result, it takes not only resilience and luck in draft picks for the team managers, but also pride in the players to not chase only after money.

    http://sportsretriever.com/basketball/will-take-small-market-nba-teams-heard/

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