It happened; it finally happened: The NBA Play-In Tournament has officially become a full-time part of the association's calendar.

… what? This is news? Well yes, technically it is; though the Play-In Tournament has been on the books for three years now and has changed the way teams on the fringes approach the trade deadline and the buyout market, it's been instated on an interim basis, with the association voting to extend the experiment to 2020-21 and eventually 2021-22 before the start of the season. With the tournament now officially installed on a full-time basis, at least according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, four more teams across the NBA can now expect to earn some sort of post-season berth and maybe, just maybe shock the world with a healthy playoff berth as a result.

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Since its initial running in 2020, the Play-In Tournament has been a resounding success, especially once the format expanded out to a four-team field in 2021; it puts a few more games on the docket, installs some extra excitement into eight fanbases when the initial 82-game season comes to a close, and allows teams 1-6 in each playoff bracket to earn a few extra days off prepare and recuperate. While no team has made it from the Play-In to the NBA Finals just yet, or even to the Conference Finals, it did provide some interesting angles and has shaken up the playoff picture ever so slightly, with Memphis, New Orleans, and Atlanta all making it into the playoffs as ninth seeds and Cleveland Golden State and the Los Angeles Clippers all failing to make the playoffs despite finishing out the regular season with the eighth seed in their respective conferences.