James Harden, P.J. Tucker not fans of NBA’s mid-year tournament plan

Rockets veterans James Harden and P.J. Tucker aren’t fans of the NBA’s new proposal to add a mid-year tournament by the 2021-22 season.Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images

Houston Rockets veterans James Harden and P.J. Tucker don’t seem to be fans of the NBA’s recent proposal to add a mid-year tournament for all 30 teams in time for the 2021-22 season.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has often floated the idea of an in-season tournament in the future, comparing it to the European soccer model. However, the responses from the Rockets show that the league still has a ways to go in convincing players of the idea’s merits.

Harden and Tucker each addressed the subject with reporters prior to Tuesday’s practice at Toyota Center.

Tucker said:

We’re fighting for an NBA championship. I don’t want to play for anything else. What else is there? There’s nothing else. It’s like a consolation or something? I don’t know. We’re playing these games to win an NBA championship.

Harden initially said he didn’t know anything about it, then added:

Are we in college? This college?

The proposal was first reported Saturday by ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe, who said the issue could be brought to the league’s board of governors in April 2020 for discussion and possibly ratification.

In Saturday’s story, Wojnarowski and Lowe reported that the NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) had found common ground on a post-Thanksgiving tournament window that would extend into mid-December, with games prior to knockout rounds counting toward each team’s regular-season schedule, as well.

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