The NBA is planning major changes to its schedule that could go in effect as early as the 2021-22 season, and commissioner Adam Silver is pushing for the launch of an in-season tournament in an attempt to generate additional interest in the game and improve TV ratings.
According to an ESPN report from November, a tournament would be built into the regular NBA schedule, and eight teams that advance from a group stage would advance to a standalone knockout round to be held in December. The tournament would create an additional break in the season for teams that do not qualify prior to the All-Star break, and per the proposal, the overall number of games in the season would be reduced slightly from 82.
On Friday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that in an attempt to get the league’s stars to buy into the concept of a mid-season tournament, the league is considering a grand prize of $1 million per player for the winning team.
Would the chance at an extra million motivate 34-year-old LeBron James, who is making $37.4 million in NBA salary this season, to go all-out to win a mid-season title that certainly wouldn’t add to his career legacy? Would Kawhi Leonard (2019 salary: $32.7 million) alter his load-management strategy to potentially increase his earnings by roughly three percent? That remains to be seen.
The biggest issue with the in-season tournament is still that it doesn’t offer anything to fans that they aren’t already receiving at a regular dose. In theory, a mid-season tournament is just a playoff preview, with the chance of a Cinderella run by a less established team – but the NBA is in full control of the schedule, and they can create marquee matchups each week without fundamentally changing the schedule. We just saw the Lakers visit the Bucks on Thursday night, and it was treated like a major event by the media, without it being the product of an ultimately meaningless mid-season tournament.
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