NBA To Make Play-In Tournament Permanent

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 9:20 pm

The NBA board of governors will approve the play-in tournament as a permanent part of the league's calendar.

The NBA had been voting on the play-in's inclusion on a year-to-year basis for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons.

One of the league's initial hopes with the seventh through tenth place teams in both conferences competing to fill the 7th and 8th playoff spots had been to curb tanking among teams and keep more franchises and more fanbases engaged longer into the regular season.

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

hyberx · Post #2 » by **hyberx** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:07 pm

It's good. It motivates teams to play hard even if they are barely locked in 7th to 8th or right outside on the 9th and 10th spots.

Revived · Post #3 » by **Revived** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 2:04 am

Are they not gonna add any rule that decides this by how many games lead the 7th and 8th seed have?

tigerae · Post #4 » by **tigerae** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 4:39 am

hyberx wrote:It's good. It motivates teams to play hard even if they are barely locked in 7th to 8th or right outside on the 9th and 10th spots.

Not a fan honestly. Just add wild card spots if you want more games and have them play in the first round while 1st seed sits or something. What's the point of teams in 7 and 8 to play hard if they know the can't catch 6. Plus, just one game means anyone can win. A series would allow the best team to advance.

LuckyLeprechaun · Post #5 » by **LuckyLeprechaun** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 11:06 am

tigerae wrote: Plus, just one game means anyone can win. A series would allow the best team to advance.

That's the point of it. Single elimination allows for underdogs to advance and that is a good thing. It is why the NFL playoffs are so popular and why the NCAA tournament is such a big deal.

No 7th or 8th seed has ever won the NBA championship so it really doesn't matter if the "best team" advances or not.