But as I pointed out, the competition is hardly balanced in the NBA. The Lakers have had multiple great runs in the past 40 years, while the Sacramento Kings haven’t had any.
And the NBA does hane minor leagues - actually often called developmental leagues, but I’m not really sure how this factors into competitive balance.
In fact, the NBA championship winner almost always comes from a very short list of teams, and the number of teams with no rings in the past 50 years is far greater on the NBA. Not to mention their contracts are insane compared to MLB, with several players making in excess of $40mill annually.
Yet their small market teams still survive and fare better than those in MLB…