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Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey backed up Adam Silver’s idea of a play-in tournament to qualify for the postseason.
Speaking on the Zach Lowe Podcast, Morey supported Silver’s plan of implementing a play-in tournament. In this arrangement, the seventh, eighth, ninth, and 10th seeds in each conference would play a tournament to see who would nab the seventh and eighth playoff spots. As transcribed by RealGM, Daryl Morey said:
“I strongly support it,” said Morey. “The thing I strongly support is the conceptual [idea that Adam Silver proposed]…it’s better when there are tiers in the playoffs, like clear tiers.”
“I absolutely support byes…we should not make sacred the seeds past 5…why is there a sanctity around the 8th seed getting screwed by a play-in tournament? Who cares?”
For Silver’s idea to be implemented, the NBPA would have to give it a green light. According to Lowe, there’s a debate going on as to whether such a play-in tourney would rake in fan interest and significant profit. After all, the tourney would feature subpar teams competing for a playoff spot. But come the postseason, they would likely be booted out by the top-seeded teams.
However, the play-in tourney would also reduce the incentive for teams to tank. The league discourages this move as it dampens ticket sales. For teams, it’s a move they need to do to be in a better position to land a top prospect who could bolster their roster.
It might take a while for this system to be implemented. The good thing is that NBA executives are already entertaining the idea through discussion and debates.