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The NBA Cup affords teams who do not qualify for the knockout rounds additional time off and potentially games against weaker competition and therefore a competitive advantage the eight teams who advance do not receive.

The topic was one discussed amongst team executives at the G League Showcase. 

"For a league that already has so little actual practice time, teams getting weaker opponents and then valuable days off and hours to practice develop their players and get better at basketball, that seems like a really beneficial advantage to me," said one Eastern Conference scout.

The league office has made clear they want to receive as much feedback as possible in order to continue to fine-tune the tournament in its nascent stage.

LeBron James, for example, was able to stack an eight-day absence from the Los Angeles Lakers while only missing two games due to the spread out nature of the schedule running alongside the Cup. Last season, the Lakers won the NBA Cup and went on to struggle in the period following it. 

Via Jake Fischer/The Stein Line

Duh? This is why most fans thought this was stupid from day one. Just like we all thought the bubble was stupid too.

Does the NBA executive committee not understand the basics of incentives?

I don't think most fans thought the idea of playing highly competitive games in December was a bad idea. Nor do I think most fans thought the bubble was a bad idea. You must not remember what the COVID years were like.

Thank Adam Silver, guy has no idea what he’s doing.

dhsilv2 wrote:Duh? This is why most fans thought this was stupid from day one. Just like we all thought the bubble was stupid too.

What has the bubble got to do with this? Lol and you thought about time off for other teams would be a competitive advantage that's what you thought about.. You soo full of **** lol.. It has been overwhelming positive bringing more competitive games early in the season it needs to be fine tuned to balance out rest and schedules but schedules have always been uneven if your in the east right now all season you have a competitive advantage..

Vegeta10176 wrote:

dhsilv2 wrote:Duh? This is why most fans thought this was stupid from day one. Just like we all thought the bubble was stupid too.

What has the bubble got to do with this? Lol and you thought about time off for other teams would be a competitive advantage that's what you thought about.. You soo full of **** lol.. It has been overwhelming positive bringing more competitive games early in the season it needs to be fine tuned to balance out rest and schedules but schedules have always been uneven if your in the east right now all season you have a competitive advantage..

Stupid is stupid...this increases injury risk playing more games. Just like the bubble removed normal health issues. Duh...I can't believe I had to explain that.

Here's an idea - cancel it.

Make the knockout stages actually count for something. A loss doesn’t count against your record, but wins do. That’s enough incentive. A crappy team can pick up three extra wins. Go by pct for standings. Champion gets automatic top 4 seed in first round plus homecourt regardless of record. Runner-up gets automatic top 5 seed. That means Milwaukee is a 4 seed right now and not Orlando.

Honestly, the NBA cup is one of the worst ideas that Silver has ever come up with. The dude needs to get rid of intentional fouling or the league will continue to be decided by skills competitions and opinion based calls of NBA refs.

Vegeta10176 wrote:

dhsilv2 wrote:Duh? This is why most fans thought this was stupid from day one. Just like we all thought the bubble was stupid too.

What has the bubble got to do with this? Lol and you thought about time off for other teams would be a competitive advantage that's what you thought about.. You soo full of **** lol.. It has been overwhelming positive bringing more competitive games early in the season it needs to be fine tuned to balance out rest and schedules but schedules have always been uneven if your in the east right now all season you have a competitive advantage..

How does it bring MORE competition? Most teams value winning a championship and making the playoffs exponentially moreso than a couple games. These are PROFESSIONAL players and they compete hard every game because the regular season matters. Acting like this inspires extra competition is nonsense. It's a completely useless tournament that force teams to play extra games for no real reason other than pandering to idiot fans that don't know anything about the game.