Well before the NBA went on hiatus due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the league was discussing ways to improve their product.
While the NBA Playoffs always draw a strong audience, the regular season has its ups and downs, making this an area the league wanted to target. One proposed idea that had legs was hosting a midseason tournament.
Now, the proposal had traction, but that doesn’t mean everyone was keen on the idea of a midseason tournament. Quite the opposite, actually.
From a player’s perspective, there’s at least one National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) higher-up who’s open to the idea: NBPA vice president and Brooklyn Nets wing Garrett Temple.
“In terms of the NBA’s future, I think the biggest thing we need to focus on is how we reach our fans,” Temple told Robin Fambrough of The Advocate. “You have to look at how fans are watching games right now. They are not watching full games like they used to. They watch more highlights on phones and iPads. Interest picks up as it gets close to the playoffs and then when the playoffs come, people watch.
Maybe you put in a tournament of some kind at midseason to generate interest. At the end of the season, you could have play-in games for seeds seven, eight, nine and 10. Something needs to change. If not, revenues will decline. No one wants that.
And with the 2019-20 season on hiatus due to the novel coronavirus, a midseason tournament may be one of the multiple changes the league could face going forward.
“There is a chance this could push back the draft,” Temple said. And possibly the start of next season back.
I don’t know how we can remedy a situation like this. There is a clause in the CBA that stipulates what will happen if the season has to end because of a natural disaster. The teams make the most money on the postseasons, which is the reasons why players’ salaries may be cut 20 percent if we don’t play again.