Chris Paul Trade: How NBA Lockout Failed to Achieve Competitive Balance

The NBA has become an absolute disgrace following the trade that has reportedly sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers from the New Orleans Hornets.

According to Yahoo Sports, the deal will also send Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets, with Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, and Kevin Martin headed to the Hornets.

Unless you support one of the four or five teams with a realistic shot at winning the NBA Finals this season, I suggest you start following college basketball.

The new CBA that was constructed following NBA lockout has failed to help small market teams compete. Wasn't that a major concern for the league prior to the work stoppage? How do we create a competitive balance?

Well, so much for a competitive balance. The rich have gotten richer with the Chris Paul trade, and once again small market teams have been screwed.

Professional basketball has become a joke with all of these super teams. How is the league supposed to have parity when the large markets dominate the majority of superstar talents? 

Small market teams cannot be consistent winners with the way things work now. San Antonio has been the rare exception of a small market team that has had championship success in the last decade.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have built a Finals-worthy roster, but that is because superstar forward Kevin Durant quietly signed an extension on the first day of free agency last summer. But how many guys are like Kevin Durant, who do not make a big deal of their signing and where they want to play? 

The answer is hardly anyone. The league needs more guys like Durant, but unfortunately they are a rare breed. 

Players demand where they want to go these days, and teams are forced to give in to the demands or they run the risk of losing their stars in free agency. 

The NBA is a players' league, and honestly, there is not much the league can do to help small market teams. You cannot force a player to stay in a small market when the team does not have the finances to be a yearly playoff contender.

With all these small market teams losing superstars, the fans are less inclined to show up to games and support the team. Without ticket revenue these teams do not have enough money to be active players in free agency.

It is a really unfortunate situation for about 80 percent of the league. Let's look at the teams who have a real shot at winning the championship this season:

The Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, and Oklahoma City Thunder are the only teams with a chance at winning the NBA Finals. Four teams! That is it, there is no one else.

What other sport has such a small amount of teams with a legitimate shot at winning the title? The NBA needs to find a way to help the small market teams compete, but there is not an easy solution.

Realistically, there is probably nothing that can be done. It was hard for the new CBA to include things to help small market teams. The luxury tax is not going to help small market teams become competitive.

In a sport dominated by superstars, small market teams will not be able to survive. In basketball you need superstars to win titles. Having a good "team" does not cut it anymore. The Detroit Pistons of 2004 will be the last team to win an NBA title without a true superstar for a long time.

While we waited months for millionaires and billionaires to stop arguing over who got what in the new CBA, fans of small market teams were hoping there would be something in the new deal that could help them compete with the large markets.

Unfortunately that did not happen, and it's not going to get better any time soon.