How the NBA can make a mid-season tournament a huge success

Much has been said lately about the NBA's interest in creating a mid-season tournament. Will such an idea be viable? Can it captivate the interest of the average NBA fan? The answer is, unequivocally, yes. But how would an NBA mid-season tournament work and where and when would the tournament take place? The answer is obvious: the tournament should take place in the same week and place as the all-star break, after the Super Bowl, and before March Madness. That would put the NBA at the center of the sports world for around 2 weeks in the month of February.rnrnBut how would such a tournament be able to captivate the interest of a fan base that, for the most part, currently just cares about the playoffs? This is the hardest issue to solve. From a prestige and legacy perspective, there is no way winning this tournament will come close to winning the NBA Finals. That being said, basketball as a single-elimination knockout sport can be an exciting, chaotic roller coaster experience. We’ve already seen how popular March Madness is with this tournament structure. This is a no-brainer; the league has to adopt a single-elimination tournament.rnrn[nextslide teaser="How%20would%20a%20single-elimination%20tournament%20work%3F" /]rnrn rnrn[caption id="attachment_447881" align="alignnone" width="3200"] Adam Silver (Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports)[/caption]rn How would the NBA's single-elimination tournament work? rnTo add a little spice to it, the seeds for the said tournament should be based on divisional records instead of the regular season standings. Here is why. First, the regular season standings already dictate seeding for the playoffs. It would be redundant and monotonous for it to dictate the mid-season tournament seeding as well. Also, in the other major sports leagues, divisional games are matters of bitter rivalry that carry a different meaning and significance than the rest of them.rnrnYou've got your Yankees vs. Red Sox, Bears vs. Packers, Cowboys vs. Giants, and so on. The NBA is currently deprived of such rivalries. I bet if you ask an average NBA fan to mention the teams that are in the same division as their favorite team, 3 out of 4 will not know who their division "rivals" are.rnrnSo, we already have the place, time, format, and seeding settled. How can you structure such a tournament? How many teams would take part in it? The answer to the last question is all 30 teams! As to the structure, it’s straightforward. It will be a bracket-like NCAA tournament, with the two number one seeds having a first-round bye. The other 28 teams will face each other according to their division’s standings.rnrnAs is customary, the highest seeds face the lowest seeds. The first round will consist of 14 single-elimination games. The winners of those games move on to the quarterfinals, where the two number one seeds that had the bye join the party. After this, we move on to the semis, and so forth. After all, is said and done, we will have gone through 29 exhilarating single-elimination games.rnrnFans would certainly be interested in such an event. But what about teams and players? Reports have circulated about players getting paid a couple of extra million dollars in order to get them to buy in. This is probably enough to incentivize most of the players to try to win the competition. Is it enough for the superstars, though?rnrnIn particular, those that are on contending teams. Probably not. Like I said before, winning the tournament will never come close to winning a title as an achievement. Players like Kevin Durant , Lebron James , Giannis Antetokounmpo , and Steph Curry may not be interested in going all out on a tournament and risking injury just to win a couple more million dollars. Their teams might not be interested in letting them play as well.rnrn[nextslide teaser="How%20to%20encourage%20stars%20and%20contenders%20to%20play%20at%20full%20strength" /]rnrn rnrn[caption id="attachment_447878" align="alignnone" width="3200"] Lebron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, (Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)[/caption]rn Encouraging stars and teams to play at full strength is key rnThe NBA is a star-driven league. In order for the tournament to be successful, the stars have to be there. How do we get them and their teams interested in winning this competition? By giving the winner a competitive advantage? The winner of the tournament could choose from a series of "perks".rnrnWhat would the perks be? For championship contending teams, it could be an exception that they could use to trade for a player or to sign one, similar to how the DPE (Disabled Player Exception) works. The size of this exception? You tell me, but one that’s the same amount as a non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception should be fair enough.rnrnThis would give more flexibility and ammo for contending teams to reinforce their rosters as they get ready for the playoffs. Another option could be luxury tax relief, let’s say a reduction of 10% to 15% of the team’s tax bill for the end of the year. This would make tax-strapped teams like the Nets and Warriors more likely to keep some key players that they would otherwise let go because of the onerous tax implications.rnrnFor example, Nic Claxton is arguably the Nets' best big, a young, up-and-coming player who they like a lot. In a tax-free world, it would be a no-brainer for the Nets to keep Claxton, but there are already rumblings that the Nets are looking to trade him because re-signing him would raise their tax bill substantially. By winning the tournament and choosing the tax reduction, a team in this scenario could keep a player they wouldn't otherwise be able to keep.rnrn[nextslide teaser="What%20about%20the%20middle-of-the-road%20teams%3F" /]rnrn rnrn[caption id="attachment_447880" align="alignnone" width="3200"] Zion Williamson (Credit: Adam Hunger/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY Sports)[/caption]rn What about the middle-of-the-road teams and the tankers? rnIf a Cinderella run does happen, fear not. They would also have perks at their disposal that are in line with the reality of their teams. Because the benefits discussed above are almost certainly ineffective for them. The first of them could be a boost to their lottery odds.rnrnLet’s say a 5% boost on landing a top 4 pick. That seems good enough for the tankers. What about the play-in and borderline playoff teams? Well, if they don’t own a first-round pick that year, they can be awarded a pick at the end of the first round. It is similar to how compensatory picks work in the NFL. If they do own a pick, that pick would be lottery eligible (have a chance to land in the top 4), and at worst, pick at 15, just outside the lottery.rnrnThat could be a significant jump if a team were to pick in the 20s. So, there you have it. The winning team could select from one of the following options: tax relief, an exception similar to the DPE, a lottery pick odds booster, and lottery pick eligibility.rnrn[story_link_next description="Grading%20all%2030%20NBA%20teams%20on%20free%20agency%20%26%20trades" url="https://hoopshabit.com/2022/08/16/nba-free-agency-grading-teams-trades-signings/" /]rnrnI acknowledge that this sounds a little gimmicky. But it also sounds fun. And at the end of the day, that is the purpose of a tournament of this nature. Inject a little fun and excitement into the dog days of the season. Where all 30 fan bases are engaged, having fun, and having a shot at winning something.

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