3 reasons NBA’s obsession with Lakers market does injustice to OKC – Cavs dominance

The NBA knows most of its fans want big teams, such as the Los Angeles Lakers win rather than the league leading OKC-Cavs tandem.

3 reasons NBA’s obsession with Lakers market does injustice to OKC – Cavs dominance

NBA focus more on Los Angeles Lakers than OKC-Cavs

No one has benefitted more from the Luka Doncic-Los Angeles Lakers trade than the NBA. The league has returned to everyone’s attention as fans want to see how the purple and gold can compete against leading small market teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Those two teams have quite a few things in common. They are led by young All-Star’s and have the hunger to win an NBA title. Both of those teams have won 50+ games so far and are currently streaking with a string of wins.

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If their form stays the same, there is a good chance the two will meet in the NBA Finals. Some media members are already talking about the prospects of these two small market teams lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy.

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At the same time, major market teams, such as the Los Angeles Lakers are the ones that are constantly in discussions among fans as well as the media. It led to an outburst from Charles Barkley, who believes ESPN was focusing too much on the Lakers instead of OKC or the Cavs.

OKC-Cavs playing great basketball

The two best teams from each conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder as well as the Cleveland Cavaliers have reached their respective positions due to one common aspect. They both play beautiful basketball and have each won 50 games doing just that.

Even the best basketball game to be televised this season was between those two teams. So much so that no game has come to showcasing entertaining basketball as much as that January 8th clash did. However, the NBA did not feel it was great enough. Or rather their actions proved so.

The game’s score was live on their YouTube page. However, they did not post the highlights reel for the audience to catch up on it. Rather, they decided to make it an NBA League Pass exclusive only, juxtaposing their own methods to promote the game.

Mind you, this was at a time when the league was struggling to find ways to bring back the excitement. This is the least they could do, but they fumbled it. In contrast, the league showcased at least four Luka Doncic-LeBron James led Los Angeles Lakers games on that same page.

Marketability of OKC-Cavs in front of Lakers

Those four games were on YouTube for a simple reason. The league knows a major chunk of their global fan base are not subscribed to NBA League Pass. Therefore, the best way to get them to watch games, that too off two of the biggest globally renowned superstars was to give fans a free lunch.

The league knows neutral fans are more likely to purchase a Los Angeles Lakers jersey than a Thunder or Cavs one. This is similar to when Michael Jordan made his Chicago Bulls jersey world famous. Neutral fans would not buy anything else other than his jersey.

Even when the likes of the San Antonio Spurs won titles left right and center, fans were not enamored. In trying to fulfil its task of bringing back the excitement, the league has veered towards the most popular large market teams.

The Lakers are one. Along with them, the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and the Celtics are the teams that can churn up major improvements in viewership ratings. They still dominate ratings over the Thunder or the Cavaliers.

Small teams do not have big enough stars for the NBA

What those teams mentioned above have in common is that they are based in cities with a massive basketball fanbase. Along with that, their propensity to spend money on tickets, merchandise, and everything else is higher than folks in a small town.

On the topic of merchandise, the NBA’s top four teams in terms of merchandise sales are the Lakers, Celtics, Knicks and Warriors. The Knicks entered the chat this season after a series of blockbuster trades placed them back on the championship contenders list.

They all have superstars, some bigger than the others. But in the Knicks’ case, it is evident that if the fans believe the team can be successful, the team will see their excitement turn into major merchandise sales numbers.

The same logic does not apply to small market teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Donovan Mitchell are All-Stars. But they are not big enough to single handedly alter the market, a la, LeBron James’ time with the Cavs.

Therefore, the NBA will keep pandering towards their big market teams. No matter how beautiful a brand of basketball OKC-Cavs play, the league knows most of its fanbase wants to see the big teams make it to the Finals.