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When the New Orleans Pelicans' seeding games schedule was released for the NBA restart, non-supporters of the Pelicans questioned whether the NBA was doing everything it possibly could to get Zion Williamson in the playoffs.
New Orleans will face the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings (twice), Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic in the seeding games, which begin on July 30 at the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The Pelicans have to rack up a better record than the Grizzlies, Kings, Spurs, Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers in the seeding games to get the eighth spot in the Western Conference and reach the 2020 postseason.
Change in remaining opponents' cumulative winning percentage, original season vs. Orlando restart:
Pelicans: +5% (.442 -> .495)
Grizzlies: +2% (.577 -> .597)But please, tell me more about how the NBA is bending over backwards to get Zion into the playoffs
— Mason Ginsberg (@MasonGinsberg) June 27, 2020
Would the NBA benefit financially from Zion playing more games? Absolutely.
Does the Pelicans' new schedule suggest that the league did anything nefarious to make that happen? Absolutely not.
I mean come on, look at what they originally had left lol pic.twitter.com/wxBTPGhb3u
— Mason Ginsberg (@MasonGinsberg) June 27, 2020
Would the NBA benefit from having the Pelicans and Zion Williamson in the 2020 playoffs? DEFINITELY!
NBA ratings were down in 2019-20 and Williamson's knee injury was one of the reasons why. The league gave the Pelicans a bevy of nationally televised games early in the season, but Zion didn't make his pro debut until January due to a meniscus injury that required surgery.
As a result, all the nationally televised games the Pelicans had sans Williamson didn't draw huge TV ratings. Since the NBA was already set to lose a ton of money due to the Daryl Morey-China scandal and the suspension of the season from March to July, it would make sense that the league's higher-ups would want Williamson in the postseason.
However, it's clear just by looking at the numbers that the NBA didn't have some sort of conspiracy to make sure Williamson and the Pelicans got in the postseason.
Before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19, Williamson was averaging 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game for the Pelicans. His return to the court helped the NBA in its ratings boost prior to games getting suspended.
The Pelicans were in 10th place in the Western Conference standings and 3.5 games back of the Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff spot out West before Rudy Gobert's positive COVID-19 test forced commissioner Adam Silver to suspend play.
It would make sense for the NBA to have Zion Williamson be featured in the return-to-play format since ratings would benefit from his presence. However, fans of other teams need to stop with this narrative that the NBA purposely gave the Pelicans an easy schedule.
