NBA An in-season tournament would be pandering to the league’s middle class
An NBA in-season tournament would add very little value to the current product.
It becomes extremely dangerous and risky when league commissioners try and fix something that isn’t broke. And NBA commissioner Adam Silver is toeing that very fine line at the moment.
The NBA is reportedly discussing the idea of an in-season tournament that would offer a cash prize to the winning team. The details are still somewhat unknown, but you’d have to imagine that such a tournament would occur during the middle of the season and would essentially be something the middle class of the league excites itself over.
The NBA is discussing having an in-season tournament in future seasons, with $1 million per player in prize money, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The concept was discussed on a Competition Committee call today.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 13, 2021
Silver rolled the dice a couple of seasons ago when he introduced the play-in playoff tournament with the 7-10 seeds in both conferences. While that has been, to a certain extent, a success, I’m not sure if Silver should be pushing his luck with this new idea.
For one, the idea of an in-season tournament would be confusing. What does that do to the value of winning the NBA Finals? If you win the NBA Finals but lose the in-season tournament, does have hurt what you describe as a successful season?
Will teams even send their full A-teams to this in-season tournament if it’s essentially for money, which the top-of-the-line players in this league don’t really need? Would every single team qualify for this tournament?
Essentially, a potential in-season tournament would get the middle class of the NBA excited and probably no one else. It’s an opportunity for teams with some talent but not enough to win the NBA Finals to earn a trophy during the year, I suppose? But would that water down the entire season in any way?
There are so many questions but simply not a lot of answers at the moment. This is likely an idea that is still years away from actual fruition, but something that the league really needs to think through.
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This is not an idea that the league can simply throw out without thinking of the possible ramifications. Sometimes you shouldn’t try to fix things that don’t need fixing. I wonder if the NBA is attempting to do just that.