NBA in-season tournament could begin as soon as 2023-24 season with prizes for final teams, per report

Of all of the NBA's recent innovations and experiments, arguably none has generated more pushback and debate than the proposed in-season tournament, which commissioner Adam Silver has discussed publicly multiple times. The momentum seems to be there given the undeniable success of the play-in tournament over the past two seasons, but implementing a mid-season tournament presents far more logistical and motivational hurdles for teams, players and schedule-makers.

Such tournaments exist in other sports, most notably European soccer, and the idea would be to spice up the early portion of the NBA season and generate more interest for games that might not otherwise seem consequential. Silver said in February that the league was "moving closer" to going forward with the tournament, and now we have some more details about a possible format.

According to Shams Charania, the tournament could be implemented as soon as the 2023-24 season and would consist of teams playing "Cup games" through November, all of which would count as regular-season games. The top eight teams would then advance to a single-elimination final. The only teams that would end up playing an extra game beyond the normal 82-game schedule would be the two teams that advance to the final.

Current framework of NBA In Season Tournament as soon as 2023-24, per sources:

- Cup games through November

- 8 teams advance to single-elimination Final in December; other 22 continue with regular season

- All games part of normal 82-game schedule; one extra for two Final teams

All eight final teams are expected to receive some sort of prize, but the league and the NBPA are still finalizing the concept of the tournament, Charania added.

There's a vocal contingent, particularly on irritable NBA Twitter, that has pushed back consistently against the potential in-season tournament, and the somewhat complicated logistical details that have been revealed have expectedly been met with similar skepticism. Overall though, a concept that heightens the importance of games and gives fans another reason to cheer seems like it will eventually find its way into the good graces of the audience.

"There's tournaments [in other sports] along the way where players, I'm sure feel an extra boost of competitiveness around winning a particular trophy," Silver said in February. "And that's what we're looking at. It's complicated."

Comments

Shaquille O'Neal says Dennis Rodman was his worst teammate: 'He was a great player, but he made it hard'

Shaquille O'Neal played for six franchises over a 20-year NBA career. That's a lot of teammates. Speaking on The Big Podcast with Shaq, the four-time champion and Hall of Famer revealed which one of those teammates was the worst. "Worst teammate? Dennis Rodman," O'Neal said. "He was a great player, but he made it hard. Like when you try to corral the guys together and the people above you [are] letting this one guy do whatever he wants. So we had to be there an hour before the game. He'd come in fifteen minutes before the game eating chicken and rice. While the coaches are talking, he would jump in the shower. Cold shower. Come and give you 15-20 rebounds." O'Neal played with some characters in his time. We know about his beef with Kobe Bryant, who we know wasn't always the easiest teammate to get along with, though Shaq has long expressed regret over the way he and Bryant handled their relationship as young superstars, and eventually, he ...

Bill Russell Once Explained Why He Didn't Bother With Celtics Fans: "When I Was A Star, The Fans Called Us The 'Boston Globetrotters' Because The Celtics Had Black Players."

While the NBA is a beacon for freedom and tolerance in America, things didn't start off that way. In a place like Boston, during the 50s and 60s, racial tension was a pretty serious problem, and superstar big man Bill Russell had to deal with it on a game-to-game basis. Today, it can be hard for us to imagine just how difficult being a black basketball player really was back then. Fortunately, we have some clips: "The number one paper was the Boston Herald and they didn't like the idea of an NBA team having black players. Out there, the star was Bob Cousy. No matter what I did, Cousy was the star. I remember I had a game where I had 25 points, 25 rebounds, 10 blocks, and the Boston Herald said I was lucky to play with Cousy." Unfortunately, the media didn't give Russell his respect back then. Despite being the best player on the court, and on his team, Cousy and others always got the spotlight. Even the fans weren't very accepting of Bill: "I didn't...

From Deep: At long last, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets can envision getting to the top of the mountain

Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...

Crossover World

Search This Blog