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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.
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