NBA Considering Drastic Schedule Changes

[Mavric]

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The NBA is engaged in serious discussions with the National Basketball Players Association and broadcast partners on sweeping, dramatic changes to the league calendar that would include a reseeding of the four conference finalists, a 30-team in-season tournament and a postseason play-in, league sources told ESPN.

 

These scenarios would come with the shortening of the regular season to a minimum of 78 games, league sources said.

 

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The reseeding of teams in the semifinal round based on regular-season record could give the NBA a championship series that includes its best two teams. The WNBA has been seeding teams in the playoffs without regard to conference for several seasons.

 

Commissioner Adam Silver has been driving this agenda of change -- especially the in-season tournament cup modeled after European soccer -- for years. The NBA is selling the idea of lucrative television and sponsorship revenue that would drive long-term growth and combat stagnation in a rapidly splintering consumer environment.

 

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In proposals that include the adoption of in-season tournaments and a postseason play-in, the traditional regular-season schedule would be reduced from 82 games -- with most teams scheduled to play 78 or 79 games. There's a small possibility of a team playing a maximum of 83 games based on possible tournament and play-in scenarios, league sources said. For the in-season tournament, the NBA is focused on 30-team participation that begins with a divisional group stage of scheduled regular-season games.

 

Those pre-knockout-round games would be part of the regular-season schedule. Six divisional winners -- based on home and road records in the group stage -- and the two teams with the next-best records would advance to a single-elimination knockout round, league sources said.

 

Those teams could each potentially compete in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

 

Proposals exist that would compensate players and coaches for advancing in and winning the tournament, league sources said. Even with possible passage, the NBA has no illusions that it will get the entire league to make an immediate enthusiastic commitment to the importance of competing for an in-season tournament championship, but it does believe that would come with time and tradition.

 

ESPN

[Cdog923]

This is a truly awful idea. There are changes that the NBA could make, but this goes in the opposite direction of progress.