And the inaugural tournament is finally done. The very first season of the NBA In-Season tournament has come and gone, and even though there were some very bright moments, it also had some dull spots too.
This tournament has more promise than I expected…but I don’t know if the NBA can harness it.
With the first rendition of the NBA In-Season tournament now done, it is clear that the In-Season tournament has a lot of promise…and also some pretty massive weaknesses that could either make or break this thing in the future. And, to be honest, I think I’m leaning more towards the break side as I don’t think the NBA will do what needs to be done.
Okay, I will admit that I was partially wrong about the In-Season tournament. The games were really fun, the competition was fierce and hard-fought, the fans in the stadium loved the games and created great atmospheres and the tournament run between all the teams in the East and all in the West was really exciting to see play out. And, as we all probably expected, of course LeBron James, AD, and the Los Angeles Lakers came out on top with their 123-109 In-Season Tournament Final victory over the Indiana Pacers.
So, what is my problem with the In-Season Tournament? Well, for starters, I don’t really know who benefits from this tournament other than the players getting a 500k payout and maybe a thousand fans from both teams having a fun week in Las Vegas.
It was fun watching the Pacers, who have missed the playoffs these last four seasons, beat all of their Eastern Conference foes through Tyrese Haliburton’s brilliance and face off against the mighty LA Lakers in the In-Season Tournament Final, but I don’t really think this is the best representation as to how the NBA Finals will play out. As of me writing this article, the Pacers are in 5th place in the East and the Lakers are in 6th place, and that INCLUDES their In-Season tournament wins.
I’m predicting the Lakers will make the playoffs (and lose before the Finals) and the Pacers should make the playoffs this year, but does anyone really see either one of them being serious challengers for the Larry O’Brien trophy this year? Again, it was a fun tournament, but I feel like it just officially crowned the whoever is the yearly December champions. It just seems kind of meaningless.
I know I sound like a broken record when I speak about the In-Season Tournament, but the reason why this type of event works in European Football is due to the hierarchal pyramid structure that sees HUNDREDS of teams play against one another for a trophy (aka: the FA Cup or the Supercopa de Espana), while they also play against their, respective, league rivals for their own league title (aka: the Larry O’Brien trophy).
I will take this belief to my grave, but I really and truly believe the only way this tournament can work to its fullest is if the NBA opens up its competition to play against rival teams FROM ACROSS THE WORLD, not just each other in a knock off FA Cup tournament. And, if Adam Silver and the NBA is REALLY against that idea, then why are they making the NBA In-Season Tournament wrap up in December?
This should be a rival tournament to the playoffs, and the only way to make that happen is if teams see intrinsic value to supplant this In-Season tournament over a playoff push. Thus, the In-Season Tournament should be played before or after the NBA playoffs and span the entire season, not just three months.
And, lastly, if the NBA In-Season tournament is going to last, then it NEEDS to draw in more fans to watch and not just have gimmicky (although they did look really cool) court designs to attract them to the games. Obviously, the later stages of the tournament did really well (they drew anywhere from 50%-93% better viewership metrics) compared to regular season games played this time last season, but the group stage games, which are most like the regular season games, had around a 25% viewership increase.
That is good, yes. But is that really going to last as the tournament grows ever more constant in the NBA calendar and becomes seen just like any other regular season game before the “playoffs” (which would be the knockout rounds in this case)? I don’t know. And what about the fan letdown when the regular season kicks back into action. Will they see MASSIVE viewership drop offs that make the regular season unsustainable? Possibly.
I’ve seen a few ideas thrown around how to fix this discrepancy, such as breaking the two tournaments into two different league seasons, but whatever the NBA does, it needs to keep tweaking this formula as the In-Season Tournament can work. But I don’t know if it will last in its current form.
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