Is Zion Williamson the small market savior?

The upper echelon of NBA players has all the control:

There’s no use being naive, these players are friends and talk about their possibilities and those approaching a free agent summer seem to start working on their plans long before the Moratorium ever arrives.

This new situation felt like a raw deal for small markets like the OKC Thunder who can’t compete for superstars based on location particularly if superstars want to be in big cities. Worse, it means the window to compete for championships narrows.

With the certainty of more players looking to pick their running partners and big market cities, it equates to players bolting after their sixth season when they have all the deciding power. The option for smaller franchises is to navigate the situation by landing top draft picks and using trades to obtain quality stars to augment the roster.

Realistically that probably means a two to three-year window for small market teams to win titles assuming they land a couple of top draft prospects and make all the right trades and middle tier signings.

Nevermind all the ring chasers who’ll charge small markets full price but accept veteran minimums to join these large market teams with two superstars. It hardly seems like a fair and equal playing field, does it?