OH GOLLY IS THIS WHERE MANDARK IS THINKING HE DONE SOMETHING
anyways
Momo- You could have owners with money in smaller markets, but there's extra exposure and thus extra money with certain cities and teams. You can be a top player on a winning team, but you'll struggle to get exposure on the level of a middling team in the major markets. I feel the players understand the food chain. You get more exposure in a city/team the NBA likes to promote. Beyond the contract money, you're making more sponsor money and increasing the value of your brand as a player.
On top of that, more media attention has meant the NBA is more invested in you as a player/team and that means you will get more favoritism from officials in the league. Also, older players that have played at a higher level are more likely to go to winning market because whatever they lose in contract money, again, they gain in exposure. You have to be a really top tier small market team for multiple years in a row to garner attention and counter-act this.
With that many advantages to start with, letting any team go after any new player would take all these problems and likely make them worse. And the states are large, and regional investment matters. If it was just a handful of competitive teams and the rest was fodder, fans would leave and the sport would suffer as it would the sport as a business.
There's just major cultural differences.
