By Joe Vardon The Athletic
Share this story

OKLAHOMA CITY — There is another side to the discussion of this being the “small market NBA Finals,” one that has nothing to do with concerns over potentially low TV ratings.

The players and coaches who live and work in Oklahoma City and Indianapolis, well, they seem to really like it. They feel supported by seemingly familiar faces and sense a lack of cynicism and expectation that seems to go with playing in the big cities like New York and Los Angeles.

ADVERTISING

The Thunder and Pacers, who met reporters Wednesday for NBA Finals Media Day, want the charm of their, colloquially speaking, small hometowns to come across to what they hope is a viewing audience of millions.

The series, which features a team in the United States’ 47th-largest TV market, Oklahoma City, playing against another in the nation’s 25th-largest market in Indianapolis, starts at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Thunder’s PayCor Arena.

“To be in a market where everybody is rooting for you, everybody is supporting you, everybody is encouraging you, and you feel that at the games and in the community, I honestly think that has an impact on our player development,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

The population of Oklahoma City is about 700,000. The Thunder is the state’s only major professional sports franchise (though the Oklahoma and Oklahoma State college teams command great attention). The state of Oklahoma is the 20th largest in the U.S. in terms of land mass, at nearly 70,000 square miles.

The Thunder last played in the finals in 2012 and went through a brief but major rebuild following the 2020 season that ended in the Disney Bubble. Daigneault said that while the Thunder were losing 50-plus games and giving their young players a chance to learn, the benefits of playing in front of a smaller, more supportive fan base were obvious.

Jalen Williams, an All-Star and All-NBA selection this season who went to high school in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Ariz. (population, about 275,000), was drafted 12th in 2022 after the Thunder lost 58 games the season before. He remembers fans gathering outside his hotel when he first flew to Oklahoma City from New York following the draft — and the welcoming atmosphere hasn’t stopped.

“I always compare it to, like, a small local high school football team being really good, and the city around them kind of gathers around them,” Williams said. “That’s how Oklahoma is. But it’s (like) that with the whole state. Everywhere we go, I’ve been met with love since I’ve been out here. It’s a really cool experience.”

About 740 miles to the northeast, in Indianapolis, the Pacers beat the Knicks in Game 6 on Saturday night to clinch the Eastern Conference finals. Coach Rick Carlisle took the microphone during the trophy presentation and said to 17,000 delirious fans: “In 49 other states, it’s just basketball. But this is Indiana.” The scene on the streets downtown after the game was reminiscent of a big homecoming win for Carmel or Munster or Speedway Senior high schools, or for Hickory High (OK, that one’s made up, but how could we talk about this without mentioning “Hoosiers”?).

The streets were clogged with cars, their drivers jubilantly honking horns. A crowd surrounded the players’ parking garage, which is across the street from the arena, chanting “MVP” and wishing congratulations upon either Pascal Siakam (the actual conference MVP) or Tyrese Haliburton (the face of the franchise) as they pulled out.

Indianapolis is larger than Oklahoma City (but only by some 180,000 people) and the Colts of the NFL occupy the stadium a couple of blocks away from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Indianapolis 500 is one of the most popular racing events in the world, and the state of Indiana has Notre Dame (college football runner-up, bruh), Indiana University and Purdue competing for attention. Also, of course, Caitlin Clark lives there, starring for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA — a league that is exploding in popularity with Clark at the seat of it.

There remains a synergy between Indianapolis residents and their teams, and also with the players on the teams themselves. There were countless Colts and Fever stars on hand for the Pacers’ conference finals against the Knicks, and the Pacers are often there for Fever games.

“Our home-court advantages are different because people are really passionate about our teams,” Haliburton said. “Their parents were passionate about the team, and their parents before that were passionate about the team. I think that’s a different type of home-court advantage or different type of fan than like a bigger city, if that makes sense.”

Haliburton grew up in Oshkosh, Wis., and went to college at Iowa State in Ames, two cities with nearly identical population sizes (about 66,000). He said “Indy is a much bigger place than I’m even accustomed to.

“I know people say it’s a small market,” Haliburton said. “Like, I didn’t grow up somewhere where it was much bigger, have more to do. So, I love being in Indy. Indy has been a great place for me and my family. My whole family lives there now. We love being there. It’s a lot of fun for me. I don’t need, like, the glitz and glamour of a large city or anything.”