REPORT: NBA In-Season Tournament Could be Future Possibility

Over the past few years, the NBA has been looking for ways to make the season more exciting. One example of this was recently implementing a play-in tournament for the final few spots in the playoffs. 

Something else the NBA has considered is an in-season tournament. 

As first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there recently has been renewed momentum for the creation of a future in-season NBA tournament among the league’s 30 teams which could become part of the calendar as soon as the 2022-23 or 2023-24 season.

According to Wojnarowski’s report, the early ideas around this tournament would have it starting with pool play as part of the regular-season schedule prior to teams with the best records advancing to an eight-team, single-elimination tournament that would culminate prior to Christmas. In turn, the regular season would be shortened from 82 to 78 games. 

As an incentive, the NBA and NBPA have discussed a prize of $1 million per player for the winning team.

This is similar to the recent G League in-season tournament that netted players on the winning team $100,000. 

Especially for teams that aren’t able to make the playoffs, this could be another way to increase competitiveness throughout a the course of the regular season.