Mark Cuban has never been shy about letting everyone know what he thinks about the NBA as a product. He’s shot down ideas like an in-season NBA tournament despite it becoming a pretty popular idea around NBA circles.
Now, he’s even coming out against a product the NBA already has — the play-in tournament.
The play-in is something Adam Silver has consistently vocalized that he wants to keep around for the NBA. It’s a product he thinks is good for the game. The tournament is fun! But it also had its downsides, too. We’ve written about them plenty here.
There were already plenty of reasons to be anti play-in tournament already. But Mark Cuban seems to have come up with another one after seeing this year’s NBA playoffs play out.
He thinks the tournament’s slot in the NBA schedule is leading to more injury and fatigue during the actual postseason.
Now, hold on. Before you push back against it, just hear him out for a second. He tweeted an explanation and it actually makes a lot of sense.
As fun as the Play-In Tournament was, it led to playoff games being played every other night. Which raises the question of whether that has led to teams being tired and possibly injured. We can’t extend the last day because of TV. Should the PlayIn be just 8th seed or not at all?
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 25, 2022
“As fun as the Play-In tournament was, it led to playoff games being played every other night. Which raises the question of whether that has led to teams being tired and possibly injured. We can’t extend the last day because of TV. Shoudl the Play-In just be 8th seed or not at all?
That’s a pretty interesting point. We are all seeing the effects from the league throwing another wrinkle into its schedule here.
If the NBA’s playoff games have felt bunched to you, don’t feel weird. It’s because they have been. There’s normally a bigger gap between each series and, typically, when teams traveled to the away team’s arena for games 3 and 4 there’d be an extra day of rest included.
Those baked-in rest days are gone because of the play-in scheduling. And that’s led to a lot more constant action. We’ve seen that play itself out throughout these playoffs.
Marcus Smart is nursing an injured ankle. Jimmy Butler has an ailing knee. Robert Williams has been in and out of the lineup for the Celtics. Luka Doncic consistently looks gassed.
Let’s be honest about this. The play-in still isn’t going anywhere and Cuban’s comments aren’t going to change that. And if there’s going to be any change here, there needs to be something more than anecdotal evidence from Cuban’s observations.
But, regardless, this should at least lead to a conversation. Because, at the end of it all, the job of the NBA is to put its best product on the floor. If the play-in needs to be adjusted to make that happen, that’s what the league needs to do.
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LAYUP LINES: The NBA’s Play-In tournament is extremely fun…but it shouldn’t be a thing