No, the NBA Does Not Hate Small Market Teams; Stop Praying for Ping Pong Balls

Long title yes, but I had to clarify before I'm accused of being a "sports elitest." While I do think it sucks for the big brands and the veteran star players to not be playing in the biggest playoff games of the year, it is refreshing to see teams like the Knicks, Pacers, Timberwolves and Thunder be the final four teams. The Knicks are the biggest brand of the teams left, but haven't had much recent playoff success until the last few years.

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With veterans like LeBron, Durant, Curry, Kawhi, Giannis, Kyrie, Harden and many more eliminated from the playoffs, this is officially the changing of the guard. Not to say none of these guys will never win another title, but the days of them running the league are over. The days of the "superteam" from the 2010s are over. No longer does a trio of stars or an elite duo alone guarantee even conference championship appearances. With the NBA youth movement and the pace of play, the skills league-wide combined with the inability to keep teams together long-term due to the CBA and "second apron" taxes, makes for a much different league than decades past. We will have a new NBA champion crowned for the 7th year in a row. No team has won back to back since the Steph/KD Warriors.

Us NBA fans, should embracing the new generation of players if we really enjoy the sport. We also need to embrace small market teams that are able to build a team "the right way" through a combination of free agency, drafting, developing and paying the key players at key times. If the team's upper management does all that and makes timely trades, you shouldn't have to rely solely on the lottery to get better. That's why I tend not to feel bad about teams like the Hornets and Wizards who don't field very competitive teams most years. Over the last FIVE drafts, the Washington Wizards have had 10 picks, and only FOUR of them are still on the team and only TWO played over 15 minutes a game including the 2nd overall pick from last year's draft, Alex Sarr.

Outside of my Philadelphia sports fandom, I appreciate and enjoy watching teams that are built by good management. The Pacers highest drafted player is Obi Toppin at the 8th pick. Tyrese Haliburton was a mid-first round pick from the Kings. The Thunder do have the 2nd pick in Chet Holmgren, but he can be their 2nd or 3rd best player at times. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was drafted 12th overall to the Hornets that traded him to the Clippers. So these teams like the Hornets and Wizards and Jazz that are going to complain about the lottery not going their way, saying its rigged, you don't just become competitive by begging for ping pong balls to go your way. Thats what has mattered this season more that recent seasons. Building the deepest team and going away from 2 or even 3 veteran star player-led teams.

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After trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers, the Mavericks won the NBA lottery and now have the rights to draft Duke's Cooper Flagg. There's a group of people that say sports are rigged due to unlikely events involving the games themselves or otherwise, though the NBA has been having a tough time rigging most of the last decade's championships. If that were the case, the Lakers and Warriors would have more than ONE title each in the last seven years. The Indiana Pacers made back to back ECF along with making their first Finals since 2000. The Oklahoma City Thunder won the most games in the NBA this year, and favored to win the title. Half of the last six championships were won by Toronto, Milwaukee and Denver. And I like to be a sports conspiracy theorist at times, which you should question integrity of sporting leagues, but after this NBA season, you cant say the league is rigged for the big market teams. I will revisit this claim if and when the Lakers play the Celtics in next year's NBA Finals.