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