Every new idea needs a champion.
For years, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver pitched the idea of an in-season tournament to a skeptical public, including the owners of the teams he works for, and had to approve it. . However, with the success of the play-in tournament and the NBA negotiating a new national television broadcast rights fee – this tournament is something else they might be able to sell – has given Silver the he leverage he needed and the NBA moved forward with the tournament this season. .
It was LeBron James who made it an event.
The fact that LeBron decided he wanted to win… he became the tournament’s first in-season MVP – made him legitimate in the eyes of many players and fans.
“It’s the (first) tournament of the season…Records will be broken, but one thing that will never be broken is being the first to do something,” LeBron told ESPN’s Malika Andrews during of the televised trophy ceremony. “And we’re the first tournament champions of the season, and no one will ever be able to top that, and it’s great to do it with a historic franchise and just a great cast of funny, committed, competitive men here.”
The first In-Season Tournament (IST) was a success: players were engaged, television audiences were reportedly up, and the T-Mobile Arena, just off the Las Vegas Strip, was packed.
It’s fair to wonder how the in-person ratings and attendance would have fared without the gravitas of LeBron and the Lakers drawing in fans. It’s fair to wonder if fans will care about the in-season tournament in 5-10 years, when the novelty has worn off.
We will find out – the in-season tournament is here to stay. At least for a while.
The league office’s ultimate goal became clear during the tournament: to create something it could sell as a separate package as part of ongoing television rights negotiations. A number of the top streaming services have talked about wanting to feature NBA games and it’s not hard to imagine “the NBA In-Season tournament exclusively on (insert streaming service here).”
It’s possible because the players – led by LeBron – have bought in. Teams didn’t treat IST like a regular season game, and that appealed to fans.
“It doesn’t feel like the regular season at all,” Pacers Tyrese Haliburton said after the final game. “I’m used to playing against LeBron whatever he plays, 30, 35 minutes. It was like he and (Anthony Davis) never left the floor. It was like a playoff type deal.
One of the reasons players bought was money: Each member of the Lakers roster just made $500,000 more, while each Pacer made $200,000. It mattered to the players and they were open about it. The opportunity to spend three days in Las Vegas during the NBA season also motivated the players.
“As far as the interest we see around the tournament during the season, I don’t think it’s all about the money. I think part of it was the competition,” Silver said. “I think it was going to happen in Vegas. I think it’s all these things that made the difference…
“I would say that gamers, at the end of the day, are not that different from other people that we know, that money is a motivator but not the only motivator of their behavior.”
There will be changes to the IST before next season – but don’t expect the colored courts to disappear. Although the designs will change, the colorful courts – which were polarizing among fans – are something the league considers a success. A unique and colorful NBA Finals court is not out of the question.
“I think what we’ve learned from these in-season tournament courts is we’re having a little more fun with the courts,” Silver said. “Also, what I’ve heard a lot from fans is that if they’re not at home, in a sports bar or wherever, if they see the field colored, that means it’s something different is happening. What surprised me a little was that I was talking to some players from both teams yesterday, and they were saying that they appreciated that the different colored pitches meant the match was special…
“You gave me an idea. Maybe it’s not just the final logo. But for the final we could have a special pitch, again, not just with the trophy in the center, but a little more colorful.
There will, however, be changes to the format.
The point differential was controversial with players and coaches – as it encouraged teams to run up the score – and Silver admitted that the feature, common in NBA tournaments in Europe and around the world, might not appeal to an audience American who considers it unsportsmanlike.
Other proposed changes include finding a way to motivate organizations and fan bases for IST – possibly adding a win to the tournament winner’s total, reports Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. The league isn’t going to give teams an extra draft pick to win – you’re not motivating players to take this seriously by providing the winning team with a way to replace said player – and guaranteeing a playing spot seems to go a long way. far. that the league is comfortable. One more win to help the playoff seeding could be motivation.
Also expect the schedule to be changed. Part of the goal was to energize what is usually a quiet part of the NBA season — taking on the NFL — but would the tournament be better in January and early February as the All-Star Game approaches? The league office – and bidders for the rights to broadcast these games – will certainly discuss it.
Should more than eight teams qualify for the round of 16? And 16?
Questions have also been asked about how to resolve the wild card and calendar issues, but those could be resolved in four to five years. When NBA Expansion Comes into Play (As Expected). Then there would be 32 teams, forming eight groups of four, and no wild cards (plus, all teams in a group can play on the same night, so Orlando being at home and having finished watching the Celtics do blowing up the Bulls to overtake them, that doesn’t happen).
These are questions to ask in the long term.
For now, Adam Silver can take a victory lap, the NBA In-Season Tournament was a success in every way the league needed.
And LeBron James deserves an assist for that.
