The Finals featuring a "small-market team" precisely demonstrates the success of the Collective Barg

Regarding the outside discussions about the "small-market" Finals, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made it clear that, at least for him, this is not an issue. In his view, in fact, a matchup like the Thunder vs. the Pacers precisely demonstrates the success of the league's efforts to achieve competitive balance among teams through the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

During an interview with Fox Sports' Breakfast Ball show on Wednesday local time, Silver used an apt and timely analogy from the NFL (National Football League) to point out that market size should not be the criterion for judging the value of the Finals.

" If the Super Bowl were the Packers vs. the Steelers, you would cheer for that—those are two historic franchises," Silver said. "But people wouldn't scoff at it just because Pittsburgh is a small market. I'm satisfied with any team that makes it to the Finals, but from the league's perspective, we've always consciously built a system through the CBA where more teams have a chance to compete."

" We need to go through a process of getting people accustomed to watching the Finals just because 'this is the highest level of basketball,'" he continued. "Not because a big-market team is playing, but because the two teams competing deserve to be on that stage."

" If I ask someone if they'll watch the Super Bowl, they won't respond by asking, 'Who's playing?' It's a national holiday-like event, and that's the ideal we aspire to. Of course, if the Knicks make the Finals, there will be fans who don't normally watch games tuning in. But my job is to get more people to love and pay attention to the sport. If you're a true basketball fan, you should want to watch the Finals because it represents the highest level of the game."

After the Finals matchup was determined last week, one online narrative claimed that league executives were dissatisfied with the Thunder vs. Pacers series because both teams are from mid-sized cities.