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News has trickled this week over a proposed NBA in-season tournament to rev up interest. On Friday, more surrounding the proposal has leaked, including the outline of the actual possible tournament.
According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, the format of the proposed midseason tournament would include every team and start with a “group stage” with preexisting divisions battling in eight games.
Sources: NBA's in-season tournament format proposal: All 30 teams involved from late Nov. to mid-Dec.:
– Divisional games (4 home, 4 away) for group stage
– 6 divisional stage winners, plus 2 wildcards for knockout
– Quarterfinals at home market; semifinals/Finals at neutral site— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 21, 2019
Additionally, the group-stage winners for each division would move on in the tournament along with two wild card teams (this is similar to the MLB's current postseason). The proposed tournament would also see an NCAA Final Four–esque neutral location for the final three games—the two semi-finals and the championship bout.
The NBA has been under scrutiny for what appears to be a monotonous, 82-game season with fatigue for fans uninterested in the bulk of the year compared to the riveting playoffs. Furthermore, despite adjusting the draft lottery odds starting last year — the league flattened the better odds for the worst teams — there still exists a gap in talent and parity between the upper echelons of teams in the NBA. In other words, although it may be harder to outright tank since the likelihood of securing a top-three pick has decreased, that hasn't stopped plenty of teams of being flat-out bad this season.
The league's shift in attention to agree to an in-season tournament appears to be a ploy not dissimilar to the existing competitions overseas in several soccer leagues. As the NBA grows its share of international talent and welcomes more imports, it's not lost that they would also adopt ideas to generate interest from other leagues as well.
