This year the NBA has added an in season tournament in hopes of making the regular season more interesting and to ensure that the best players are playing more often. This is the first in season tournament of its kind for all of the four major American sports (Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Hockey.) If you don’t know how the tournament works or what it means here’s everything you need to know.
The in season tournament is broken down into two stages,
Stage 1: Groups play. Each of the 30 teams have been divided in six even groups and from November 3rd to November 28th they will play four games against teams in their group. Two at home and two away. The top team of each group will advance to the next round along with two wild cards (the next two teams with the best record).
Stage 2: Knockout Rounds. Each game is single elimination played in NBA team markets. The quarter final games will take place on December 4th and 5th. Semi Final games will be played December 7th and the finals will be played on December 9th.
Group West A:
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Phoenix Suns
- L.A. Lakers
- Utah Jazz
- Portland Trail Blazers
Group West B:
- Denver Nuggets
- L.A. Clippers
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Dallas Mavericks
- Houston Rockets
Group West C:
- Sacramento Kings
- Golden State Warriors
- Minnesota TimberWolves
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- San Antonio Spurs
Group East A:
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Atlanta Hawks
- Indiana Pacers
- Detroit Pistons
Group East B:
- Milwaukee Bucks
- New York Knicks
- Miami Heat
- Washington Wizards
- Charlotte Hornets
Group East C:
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Toronto Raptors
- Chicago Bulls
- Orlando Magic
If you win the tournament the head coach and players will all receive $500,000.The reason the NBA is giving out so much money is because the NBA has had a problem the last few years. That problem is called load management. Load management is when a team sits their best player through a regular season game so they can rest and don’t risk them getting injured. This has made regular season games more boring because no one wants to see the backups play. The reason the in season tournament was approved so quickly is because the ratings dropped last year. Personally I think that the in season tournament will be a great solution to these problems for a couple of reasons. One reason is that there will be less load management in these games because no coach would sit their players when facing a possible $500,000 payout. It will also make the regular season more exciting. Sometimes the NBA’s regular season gets a little boring because you know that the game you’re watching means nothing. If the games aren’t so boring then the ratings will go up and that’s what the NBA really wants. The tournament games have been purposely spread over a long period of time so that there’s more excitement when you watch it and the games actually mean something.
This is what the NBA in season tournament is all about.
