.-') _ .-') _ | |
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) | |
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' | |
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ | |
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) | |
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ | |
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | | |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | | |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' | |
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trendlines: The smallest markets are winning the NBA finals | |
Analysis by Harry Enten, CNN | |
Updated: | |
11:35 AM EDT, Sat June 7, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Welcome to Trendlines, your weekly installment of what’s trending up | |
and what’s trending down in sports. | |
This week we’re talking about the NBA Finals, and the emergence of | |
the small market team. | |
Think about the iconic NBA franchises: The Los Angeles Lakers, the | |
Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and, if you indulge me, the New York | |
Knickerbockers. | |
This NBA Finals features two nicknames to never win an NBA title: the | |
Thunder and Pacers. | |
These two teams are from not-so-iconic American cities: Oklahoma City | |
and Indianapolis. | |
So let’s start there with a big downswing. | |
Trending down – The combined size of the home media markets for NBA | |
finals’ teams: Down 3 million homes from 2024 | |
I’m being a bit charitable here with being down 3 million. I’ve | |
rounded down. Indianapolis has a little over 1 million homes in its | |
media market. Oklahoma City has well under a million. Combined they | |
have a little less than 2 million homes. | |
What a change from 2024 when the Finals teams (Boston and Dallas) each | |
have over 2 million homes in their media markets. | |
But it’s not just from last year from which we’ve seen a tremendous | |
shift. Indeed, I plugged in the current media market size for every | |
Finals team since the early 1980s. | |
Based on the current rankings, this is the Finals with the smallest | |
teams’ media markets in at least the last 40 years. | |
Trending down – The average NBA Finals’ team worth: Down $1.4 | |
billion from 2024 | |
It’s not just the media markets where we can see how the Pacers and | |
Thunder are small markets. Take a look at the valuation for each | |
franchise. | |
Both teams are worth under $4 billion. Now, that is still a billion | |
with a “b”, but last year the two teams were worth about $5 billion | |
on average. | |
The fact that we have one small market team in the Finals isn’t that | |
unusual. Both of these teams have been in the finals before. | |
What makes this year truly unique is that we have two teams worth so | |
little at the same time. In fact, there hasn’t been an NBA Finals’ | |
with two teams in the bottom 10 in the league in terms of worth since | |
at least the early 1990s. | |
Trending up – Players under the age of 25 on NBA finals’ teams: Up | |
2 players from 2024 | |
Small market doesn’t mean unexciting. Tyrese Haliburton ridiculously | |
clutch shooting in Game 1 proves that. | |
What makes Haliburton’s production so amazing is he was still 24 on | |
February 1 of this year. He’s one of 18 players who have suited up | |
for these squads who were under 25 on that date. | |
That’s a record since at least the early 1980s | |
These are young and fresh players beyond just Haliburton. Thunder’s | |
star Jalen Williams clocks in at a mere 24 years old. His teammate Chet | |
Holmgren is 23. | |
We’re looking at squads that could be good for years to come. | |
Dare I say that, by the time it’s all done, it may be Bulls, Celtics, | |
Knicks, Lakers… and Pacers or Thunder on the pantheon of iconic NBA | |
teams. | |
<- back to index |