Source: Sarah Stier / Getty
On Friday night, league commissioner Adam Silver took the stage during a special episode of
NBA Today to announce the sport’s first-ever in-season tournament.
He revealed that the idea has been floating around the league for nearly two decades, and as sports continue to evolve and keep fans’ attention, he thought there was no time like the present to switch things up.
“This is a concept that has been rumbling around the league office for around 15 years. “We thought what a perfect opportunity for a global league like the NBA, and it’s a perfect fit for our game,” Silver said. “New traditions take time. But, all throughout sports, we are seeing new innovations, and now is the time for this NBA in-season tournament.”
NBA Today host and NBA vet
Richard Jefferson then broke down how the new tournament works.
He explained that the entire league is split into six groups of five teams, with three groups for the Eastern and Western conferences. The teams were grouped on their regular season record from the previous season and then drawn randomly, similar to the World Cup.
Then within the regular season, each team will play one game against all their fellow group members, and the winners move on to a single elimination tournament. Then each winner from the Western and Eastern Conference will face off, with the winner taking home bragging rights, $500,000 per player, and a new trophy called the NBA Cup.
According to
ESPN, the title game losers also take home $100,000 each, and quarterfinal game losers each get $50,000, with the games taking place in Las Vegas.
It may sound a bit confusing at first, but the league hopes the tide will turn once fans get used to it.
“Everybody’s not going to buy in right away,” said NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars. “So that can’t be the goal that everybody’s going to buy in from day one.”
NBA fans are less than enthused by the idea. See how they’re sounding off on
Twitter below.
