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The NBA is discussing a $1 million per player reward for the winners of the proposed 30-team, in-season tournament, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Story filed to ESPN: The NBA is discussing a $1 million per player purse for the winners of the proposed 30-team, in-season tournament. Reporting with more details on discussions for possible 2021-2022 league calendar change soon on site.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 20, 2019
The NBA is proposing a midseason tournament which would begin in the 2021-2022 season. The NBA and NBPA are trying to find common ground on a post-Thanksgiving tournament window which would extend into mid-December.
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The NBA had previously proposed a late January-February tournament that would culminate with a Final Four during All-Star Weekend. The idea faded fast due to concerns from both the union and team executives.
Commissioner Adam Silver has been driving the in-season tournament cup modeled after European soccer. However, it appears teams in the NBA aren’t too fond of this idea, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe:
“I think it certainly, of all the big proposals, is the one that has been met with the most skepticism from teams.” Lowe said on ESPN radio. “It centers around, ‘Is anyone going to care about this? Are we, teams, going to care about this?’
“I get that. What is in it for them and the NBA, as you said, is counting on the organic momentum of this as long as it sticks around for long enough, it will sort of by default come to mean something. I guess that can be true? I actually sort of believe in that kind of organic momentum for events and things like that.”
Teams are reluctant to take short-term losses on losing two home dates to accommodate the tournament, especially when those games can be worth between $3 million and $4 million for the most profitable big market teams, league sources told Wojnarowski.
