Around the League: 2024-25 Season

[Knightro]

There's no such thing as small market teams in the NFL because there's a hard cap and no local television contracts to create a financial gap between the haves and have nots.

[pepe1991]

OKC's championship will change nba.

But not in ways people think.

Due complete lack of interest in Indiana or OKC from mainstream media and very little feedback from fans, even somebody as dumb as Silver will ( mostly due tv ratings decline ) figure that NBA never had parity problem because fans only want parity as long as top teams stay on top.


NBA, like any other league, is at it's finest when biggest teams are in finals.

I'm firm believer that NBA will use their options to get out of current CBA sooner than later. Aprons make team tear down rosters. Nobody wants to watch league with 20 rebuilding teams because teams can't afford stars pass year 9.

Until NBA pivots back into traditional- big markets friendly direction ( because, again, that's best for everybody ) OKC's blueprint of getting talent before rookie contract exst. kick in. Use lower cap to add assets and talents. Winning title with young players isn't pipe dream.

Yay, lets forget about the Magic and all become LA, Knicks, Spurs and Boston fans with zero use for watching the regular season because hey, we know who will be in the finals. That would be only 7 games I would need to watch anymore. Silver is smarter than that, he markets the players, not the teams except for the Lakers of course.

I just want to make things clear.

I personally watch sport because it is cool to see smaller teams win.
But i'm also smart enough to not be naive and not understand that sports haven't been played for fans for past 100 years but to generate money for owners, sports betting houses and all the millionaires involved.

NBA needs international audience to be engaged in product and as much people in US to watch it.

Small teams simply don't do a trick. For 2023-24, total NBA revenue was around 11,34 billion dollars. Lakers, Knicks and Warriors generated, alone 16% of total revenue.
Top 7 nba teams make over 30% of revenue.

NFL in US is way more popular sport. NBA and dummy Silver overplayed hand making players bigger stars, and by default it hindered value of teams. Because whole bunch of people care more about players than teams ( Bandwagon fans of players ).

Over long period of time it created even bigger issues for smaller market teams because stars will still gravitate toward big markets and once they leave, they take millions of their fans with them ( that's why, to me, Luka to LA was so important for NBA ).
Even today, more people talk about Luka in LAL than OKC in finals.
SGA would gain more popularity by going to Knicks than he will by winning title. That's just reality.

Even nba players are well aware of this

In 2021, Rudy Gobert, who at the time played for the Jazz, was asked whether the NBA did enough to promote small-market teams.

"Whether you have superstars playing the Finals or great teams playing great basketball, it's a win-win…The goal is to tell great stories, and if you have that, you can make a profit," said Gobert, who played for Cholet Basket before cracking the NBA in 2013.

All told, the Thunder notched an average margin of victory of 23.2 points per game across their first 12 playoff wins. As one might expect, the one-sided nature of OKC’s postseason run wreaked havoc with the TV ratings; per Nielsen, its May 28 undoing of the Timberwolves averaged just 4.62 million viewers on ESPN, making it the least-watched Game 5 of a WCF in 18 years.

Pretty much all tv projections for current finals are epic. In all the wrong ways. It is expected to be least watched finals, aside from COVID one since Pistons & Spurs in 2005.
Maybe you or me don't care about it. But nba is private league. They care. There is no money for it's owners, handlers, workers if they don't generate money. There is more people to hate-watch Lakers than actual fans to watch Pacers, OKC and Grizzlies together.

[BadMofoPimp]

OKC's championship will change nba.

But not in ways people think.

Due complete lack of interest in Indiana or OKC from mainstream media and very little feedback from fans, even somebody as dumb as Silver will ( mostly due tv ratings decline ) figure that NBA never had parity problem because fans only want parity as long as top teams stay on top.


NBA, like any other league, is at it's finest when biggest teams are in finals.

I'm firm believer that NBA will use their options to get out of current CBA sooner than later. Aprons make team tear down rosters. Nobody wants to watch league with 20 rebuilding teams because teams can't afford stars pass year 9.

Until NBA pivots back into traditional- big markets friendly direction ( because, again, that's best for everybody ) OKC's blueprint of getting talent before rookie contract exst. kick in. Use lower cap to add assets and talents. Winning title with young players isn't pipe dream.

Yay, lets forget about the Magic and all become LA, Knicks, Spurs and Boston fans with zero use for watching the regular season because hey, we know who will be in the finals. That would be only 7 games I would need to watch anymore. Silver is smarter than that, he markets the players, not the teams except for the Lakers of course.

I just want to make things clear.

I personally watch sport because it is cool to see smaller teams win.
But i'm also smart enough to not be naive and not understand that sports haven't been played for fans for past 100 years but to generate money for owners, sports betting houses and all the millionaires involved.

NBA needs international audience to be engaged in product and as much people in US to watch it.

Small teams simply don't do a trick. For 2023-24, total NBA revenue was around 11,34 billion dollars. Lakers, Knicks and Warriors generated, alone 16% of total revenue.
Top 7 nba teams make over 30% of revenue.

NFL in US is way more popular sport. NBA and dummy Silver overplayed hand making players bigger stars, and by default it hindered value of teams. Because whole bunch of people care more about players than teams ( Bandwagon fans of players ).

Over long period of time it created even bigger issues for smaller market teams because stars will still gravitate toward big markets and once they leave, they take millions of their fans with them ( that's why, to me, Luka to LA was so important for NBA ).
Even today, more people talk about Luka in LAL than OKC in finals.
SGA would gain more popularity by going to Knicks than he will by winning title. That's just reality.

Even nba players are well aware of this

In 2021, Rudy Gobert, who at the time played for the Jazz, was asked whether the NBA did enough to promote small-market teams.

"Whether you have superstars playing the Finals or great teams playing great basketball, it's a win-win…The goal is to tell great stories, and if you have that, you can make a profit," said Gobert, who played for Cholet Basket before cracking the NBA in 2013.

All told, the Thunder notched an average margin of victory of 23.2 points per game across their first 12 playoff wins. As one might expect, the one-sided nature of OKC’s postseason run wreaked havoc with the TV ratings; per Nielsen, its May 28 undoing of the Timberwolves averaged just 4.62 million viewers on ESPN, making it the least-watched Game 5 of a WCF in 18 years.

Pretty much all tv projections for current finals are epic. In all the wrong ways. It is expected to be least watched finals, aside from COVID one since Pistons & Spurs in 2005.
Maybe you or me don't care about it. But nba is private league. They care. There is no money for it's owners, handlers, workers if they don't generate money. There is more people to hate-watch Lakers than actual fans to watch Pacers, OKC and Grizzlies together.

Even so, everyone involved with the NBA making mad money off their investments in teams while players are compensated extremely swell. If you build a solid product, profits will happen. If the NBA prioritizes big markets who win most of the time, the overall product suffers locally for every team except in LA, Boston and New York. This isn't about capitalizing on the big markets, but the overall product being competitive. And, we are witnessing that in these finals. Even a lower watched finals will generate future excitement and growth.

[RookieStar]

Watching this IND-OKC game... man thebrefs arent callig all the grabs swipes and other handsyjobs....

This is a game our team excels at best!!! Ots like PO and Finals is built for uw

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Watching this IND-OKC game... man thebrefs arent callig all the grabs swipes and other handsyjobs....

This is a game our team excels at best!!! [I]t’s like PO and Finals is built for u[s](sic)

Too bad the first round isn’t.

[RookieStar]

Watching this IND-OKC game... man thebrefs arent callig all the grabs swipes and other handsyjobs....

This is a game our team excels at best!!! [I]t’s like PO and Finals is built for u[s](sic)

Too bad the first round isn’t.

Yeah... still... Suggs was out. Swiping and hackig is just Suggs specialty

[basketballRob]

Watching this IND-OKC game... man thebrefs arent callig all the grabs swipes and other handsyjobs....

This is a game our team excels at best!!! Ots like PO and Finals is built for uw

It's amazing that OKC only has 8 fouls at the half.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[basketballRob]

Watching this IND-OKC game... man thebrefs arent callig all the grabs swipes and other handsyjobs....

This is a game our team excels at best!!! [I]t’s like PO and Finals is built for u[s](sic)

Too bad the first round isn’t.

Yeah... still... Suggs was out. Swiping and hackig is just Suggs specialty

Cole and Goga were giving us about 1 foul per minute in the playoffs.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[RookieStar]

Too bad the first round isn’t.

Yeah... still... Suggs was out. Swiping and hackig is just Suggs specialty

Cole and Goga were giving us about 1 foul per minute in the playoffs.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

Those fouls wouldnt be called in this game. If Dort did those things he didboutside the court, witnesses would call the police for sexual harassment

[Bensational]

Pacers are incredible. Can’t ever count them out in these playoffs.

[ogmagicfan]

Great finish to the game, Hali is incredible

[Idiosyncratic]

That seemed impossible for the Pacers. 24 turnovers to 6, Thunder shot the ball 16 more times, dominate whole game, yet they lose.

Big lane violation call and Myles Turner banked near corner 3 down the stretch lol. Shai misses a bunny, Haliburton hits tough game winner on what was looking like an awful possession

Pacers might be just be team of destiny IDK.

[basketballRob]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

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[MasterGMer]

Hali didn't even play a good game but still won with game winning shot. This team is something else

[Rainwater]

I thought Chet had a chance to be better than Paolo, I just don’t see that anymore.

[RookieStar]

Wow... he did it again

[Rainwater]

Just don’t understand how pacers keep winning. I really think the Magic are better but it’s whatever.

[dsg2021]

Biggest thing to me was OKC's misplaced matching of a 6'2-ish guard defending a 6'5 or 6'6 Haliburton. Good game, next.

This whole playoffs has been an offensive rebounding theme in some series, and a theme of 6'5-ish guards who can handle and score super well in others. Yes, the team offenses look a few levels above ORL's (in terms of 4 to 5 threats of scoring out there), but I also think ORL's defense is a few levels higher than anyone else's and would be suffocating their pace and scoring. And Paolo and Franz are anytime-scorers.

I'm winning the Finals no matter what when my last two receipts of "must trade for this draft pick" were for Hali and SGA. I finally am putting up another receipt after all this time on the 6'6-ish Tre Johnson for this draft. He won't be near 11th pick like Hali and SGA were, but I think still gettable for sure. I'm basically ready to flip the '26 PHX 1st here. And I've been rooting for IND for a while here, would be so awesome to see them pull it through.

[Idiosyncratic]

As a neutral who really doesn't care who wins I will gladly take 7 games, but that was mindblowing to me. I still think OKC looked way better.

I think I was giving the Pacers a better chance than many to be competitive due to the fact they usually limit turnovers, as OKC struggles without them, but they didn't even do that this game and won LOL.

[dsg2021]

As a neutral who really doesn't care who wins I will gladly take 7 games, but that was mindblowing to me. I still think OKC looked way better.

I think I was giving the Pacers a better chance than many to be competitive due to the fact they usually limit turnovers, as OKC struggles without them, but they didn't even do that this game and won LOL.

The number of 3 point shooters on their team is just insane, right into their big men and entire roster. It equalizes everything. 46 3P% for them tonight. They got rid of all of the jitters from so many close games all year too. The crazy comebacks are just a permanent confidence boost at this point.