The NBA’s conference finals begin Tuesday night as the Pacers visit the Celtics to tip off the action in the East, before the Mavericks and Timberwolves begin their series in Minnesota on Wednesday. But without some of the league’s top media markets, highest-paid players, and last year’s NBA Finals participants, this final four will need to lean on its own unique drama to draw big audiences as this year’s champion is eventually crowned.

What Could Have Been

On Sunday, a pair of dramatic Game 7s saw the Timberwolves knock out the defending champion Nuggets, and the Pacers eliminate the Knicks, denying New York—and its huge fan base—the franchise’s first conference final appearance since 2000.

Meanwhile, only one player with a top-15 salary in the NBA this season made it to the conference finals: Rudy Gobert. The Minnesota center ranked 13th this season, with a salary of $41 million, according to Spotrac. So, without high-priced MVP winners like Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, LeBron James, and Nikola Jokić, the NBA will instead rely on new stars like Luka Dončić, Jayson Tatum, and Anthony Edwards to create and sustain fan interest.

Don’t Look Now

Perhaps the most intriguing team off the court still alive this postseason is the Timberwolves. Having won their first playoff series in two decades, Minnesota is now the betting favorite to advance to the first NBA Finals in franchise history, all while a messy ownership transition plays out. Majority owner Glen Taylor continues to feud—and battle in court—with minority investors Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, who were supposed to have full control of the organization at this point as part of a $1.5 billion deal agreed to in 2021.

This postseason also marks the first under new ownership for the Mavericks, after Mark Cuban sold his majority stake in a deal that values the franchise at $3.5 billion. For the Pacers, even though they’re huge underdogs (at least +700 at most sportsbooks) to the Celtics while playing in their first conference final in a decade, the guarantee of at least two home games will add to the hype and revenue machine that their WNBA counterpart, the Fever, have turned into thanks to the addition of rookie Caitlin Clark.

The center of the sports world, at least for the next week or so, will largely be the American Airlines Center in Dallas, highlighting a unique confluence among two of the city’s major pro teams. 

The NHL’s Stars and NBA’s Mavericks, who share the 23-year-old arena, have each reached the conference finals in their respective leagues. That’s the first time that’s happened in the same year with NHL and NBA teams that share a building since 2003, when the Devils and Nets each advanced to the league finals, and New Jersey winning the Stanley Cup, while playing at the now closed Meadowlands Arena (then known as Continental Airlines Arena). 

A somewhat similar situation happened just a year ago when the NHL’s Panthers and NBA’s Heat in South Florida also made joint finals appearances. But those teams play in separate arenas more than 30 miles apart. 

The situation in Dallas, conversely, has been a jam-packed one in which three concerts there have already been rescheduled due to the ongoing playoff runs, with more shifts likely to come. Such movement on the venue calendar is typical at this time of year as concerts booked for May and June frequently contain additional contingencies to account for newly scheduled playoff games in basketball and hockey. 

Boom Times in Big D

Upcoming games at American Airlines Center will be held May 23, 25, 26, and 28, with more possible depending on the outcome of the two series. But arena leaders are attempting to normalize the situation, and highlighted the frequent operational turnovers all year long between the two sports and other events. 

“This is really about the teams and the fans,” Dave Brown, American Airlines Center general manager, tells Front Office Sports. “This is what we do and what we prepare for. It’s very exciting, obviously, but we are ready for this.”

A similar shared-arena situation for the conference finals was one game away from also happening at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and it would have extended what’s been a historically resonant spring for the NBA’s Knicks and NHL’s Rangers. But the Knicks fell to the Pacers on Sunday in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. 

Both the Stars and Mavericks have previously won league championships, but never at the same time. But the latest success extends a local run that has included MLB’s Rangers winning last year’s World Series and that team’s Globe Life Field hosting the league All-Star Game in July. The NFL’s Cowboys, by far the most popular team locally, have been left out of this and haven’t reached the NFC championship game since 1995.