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The NBA In-Season Tournament is expected to tip off for the first time next season with a winner crowned in early December 2023.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks, each player on the winning team will receive $500K. Meanwhile, those who are rostered on the second-place team will collect $200K. Players who finished in third place will receive $100K and those in fourth will receive $50K.
Of course, the average salary in the NBA is quite a bit more than $500K.
The money could mean something different for players on two-way deals, though. Two-way players can earn up to half the rookie minimum, which is projected at $1.1 million next season.
So that means the max amount a two-way player can earn is $551K for their annual deal, but that rate would basically double if their team took home the trophy during the in-season tournament.
Maybe players on max contracts or even most standard contracts won’t go crazy for this cash prize, but those on the fringes who could potentially make appearances in this tournament might.
Professional athletes are naturally wildly competitive people. If it’s mostly those on minimum deals and two-way deals getting on the floor, we might see some relatively interesting basketball.
Otherwise, because these games count toward the regular-season standings anyway, it’s no less interesting than your typical NBA game in November or December.
The Tip-Off
NBA content from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
A Chinese basketball team with Eric Bledsoe and Michael Beasley was disqualified from the postseason for “fixing” multiple playoff games:
“Two basketball teams in the Chinese Basketball Association, the Shanghai Sharks and the Jiangsu Dragons, were thrown out of the ongoing playoffs for match-fixing.
The Sharks have several players with NBA experience including Michael Beasley, Eric Bledsoe, Johnny O’Bryant, and Jamaal Franklin. Antonio Blakeney is the only player with NBA experience on the Dragons, although a few other players on the roster have played NBA Summer League.
Findings from an investigation from the CBA Disciplinary and Ethics Commission concluded that Shangai showed “negative contention” during the second game of a three-game series, which Jiangsu won.
Bledsoe was serving a four-game suspension for the Sharks, and he served all three during the three-game series against the Dragons. But the team was accused of “giving up” during the second game, forcing a third game, so that he could return for the second game if his team advanced to the semifinals.
Jiangsu then demonstrated a “lack of competitive effort” in the third and final game of the series, in which Shanghai won 108-104.
Jiangsu had several “unexpected errors” in the final few minutes of the game and coach Li Nan failed to call a timeout that could have at least kept them in contention.”
Yikes!
One to Watch
(All odds via Tipico.)
Warriors (-1.5, -130) @ Kings (+1.5, -110), O/U 239.5, 10:00 PM ET
Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr have never trailed 0-2 during a playoff series. Could that change tonight?
Shootaround
— Russell Westbrook video shows him confronting Suns fan: ‘Watch your mouth, [expletive]’
— LeBron James trolled Dillon Brooks, Grizzlies by pretending to eavesdrop on a coaching conversation
— A Kings fan tried to taunt Steph Curry after a foul, but it didn’t really work
— NBA fans want the charge rules changed after scary Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant injuries