After months of discussions surrounding a possible in-season tournament for the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver formally proposed the idea, among others, on Friday.
Sources: NBA has sent teams the proposal for 2021-22 season changes:
– 78-game regular season
– In-season tournament ($1M per player, $1.5M coaches pool for champion)
– Play-in tourneys for 7-8 playoff seeds
– Final 4 reseed in playoffs based on regular season records— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 21, 2019
According to Shams Charania, the tournament would feature all 30 teams and run from late November to mid December. There would be a divisional stage with each team playing four home and four away games, and six winners along with two wildcard teams would advance to the knockout round. The quarterfinals would be played in a team’s home market while the semi-finals and final round would be hosted at a neutral site. The winning team would earn players a $1 million bonus and $1.5 million for coaches.
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
Silver also proposed another regular season tournament, a play-in to determine the 7 and 8 seeds in the playoffs and a re-seeding of the final four teams based on record, without regard to conference.
These proposed changes would also shorten the regular season from 82 games to 78.
If accepted, the changes would drastically alter the landscape of the NBA season and could possibly add some excitement to the early part of the year. An 82-game season is a grind, and a tournament in the middle of it could make some of the games mean a lot more than they currently do.
This is definitely worth keeping an eye on if you’re an NBA fan.
