The NBA will look entirely different next season throughout the regular season, with a new in-season tournament that has been agreed to through the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Some are still uncertain of how exactly it will look and what the point of it really is. NBA commissioner Adam Silver offered some more clarity about it ahead of Sunday’s Game 2 0f the NBA Finals.
Silver appeared on NBA TV where he was asked by Charles Barkley to explain exactly how it will be implemented. He said that the decision was to make it so teams had “another thing to compete for”.
“I think the notion there was to take a page from international soccer, where there are other things to compete for, not just in our case the Larry O’Brien Trophy,” Silver told Barkley.
.@NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on what we can expect from the new in-season tournament: pic.twitter.com/rxnxplAWtP
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 4, 2023
He then expanded on what games would be in-season tournament games compared to just regular-season games.
“We’re actually taking a series of games, regular season games, and designating those as tournament games. Those games will count for both the regular season and this in-season tournament. The four teams that are still standing will come together and go to a neutral site. And they will play for a separate trophy.”
Silver did acknowledge that some fans may not exactly be on board with this new idea right away.
“It’ll be a new tradition, and it’ll probably take a little while to get it going. But you guys know, in this league it is a long season to play for one championship in the end.
Barkley was skeptical of why players would care about winning this in-season tournament. Silver then revealed that there is “significant prize money” for the team that does win the tournament.
“The games also count towards the regular season. So you have the same incentive to care about your record. And there is prize money that is significant. So there is a financial incentive as well to compete.”
