The Brooklyn Nets are now favorites to win the NBA title. Remember, the public helped this "sports entertainment corporation."

The superstar-laden Brooklyn Nets, even without their big three (Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden) playing together much, have been dominating the NBA of late, which is why most (but not all) pundits are now ranking them as title favorites, as summarized by NetsDaily.

Now the Nets are adding some missing pieces, like power forward Blake Griffin, as players with a choice are opting to seek a ring, rather than maximize salary.

So, by July--given the late start on the truncated season--we could see the Nets win a championship.

It would be a notable, if odd, achievement, since home games, at least for now, are being played at 10% capacity in the Barclays Center, a percentage that might grow but likely not represent even a half-full house.

But the NBA is about televised entertainment, above all, and the teams--to use subsidy skeptic Bettina Damiani's piquant phrase--are "sports entertainment corporations."

So, if the Nets win, will there be parades and celebrations? Likely, though probably truncated.

Do the players--however much their appearance at charitable events--have an organic connection with Brooklyn, the way the Brooklyn Dodgers had? Of course not, the world has changed.

Does the Barclays Center represent a nice place to play basketball? Sure.

Did the presence of the arena--and yes, a smart front office and new practice facility--help lure those superstars? Sure.

Has the arena relied on the fig leaf of public ownership to enable tax-exempt financing, public subsidy for land purchases, and a state giveaway of naming rights to help pay for construction? That, too.

Was the big winner in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, so far, not the developer of the residential project nor the public at large but rather the billionaire owner of the Brooklyn Nets and arena operating company, Mikhail Prokhorov? Yes.

Will Joe Tsai, the billionaire owner who bought out Prokhorov for a giant sum, profit from his investment? Well, winning an NBA title sure would help.