Commish: Nets a free-agency success story

LAS VEGAS — There has always been a concern about big market-small market disparities in the NBA, and f ive of the league’s superstars ended up in either New York or Los Angeles this offseason.

But NBA commissioner Adam Silver isn’t concerned after watching the Nets and Clippers dominate free agency.

He, in essence, said the league is a meritocracy, and the Nets and Clippers — long the second team in their respective cities — earned every bit of this summer’s success.

“To [the] point that you have players going to nontraditional big-market teams … at the end of the day, we want to be a league where strong management is rewarded and that every team has the opportunity to compete,” Silver said after the NBA Board of Governors meetings Tuesday night in downtown Las Vegas.

“I think you have unique circumstances with those players and those teams. But I think it speaks to the fact that the significance of these brands, the fact that the Nets and Clippers have put themselves in position over the last few years to be attractive to top free agents. So I think at the end of the day, it’s positive for the league.”

In short, competency always a plus.

Two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant and All-NBA point guard Kyrie Irving both picked Brooklyn on the opening night of free agency, Durant eventually arriving via sign-and-trade from Golden State.

Kawhi Leonard, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, bolted Toronto after just one year to sign with the Clippers. After Leonard recruited Paul George, the Thunder All-Star convinced Oklahoma City to trade him to the Clippers, as well.

Anthony Davis kickstarted the offseason by getting dealt to the Lakers just before the NBA draft to join LeBron James.

The Knicks were the only one of the four New York/L.A. teams that failed to make an impact signing, with Julius Randle the most notable among a slew of under-the-radar additions. is