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The NBA seems to be moving forward with their midseason tournament idea, as they seek out ways to liven up the middle of the long regular season.
The proposal, as recently laid out by Marc Stein of the New York Times, would entice teams with a $15 million prize to be split among players, a $1.5 million bonus for coaching staffs, and the possibility of earning an extra first round draft pick by the winning team.
The NBA continues to discuss draft compensation, potentially in the form of an extra first-round pick, as a reward for the winning team in the proposed in-season tournament for the 2021-22 season, sources tell @NYTSports
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 24, 2019
In a memo to teams to last week, detailing a proposed $15 million pot for the championship team and $1.5 million for the winning coaching staff, “incentives for teams and fans” were listed as “to be determined”
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 24, 2019
The prize money for players is to incentivize them to play hard, as a draft pick prize would do the opposite if that was all that was at stake for them. However, that draft pick might not be the best carrot to get team executives to want to put their best foot forward in such a tournament, either, as Mark Cuban laid out on Twitter.
So Dumb. What will teams that are in the tax going out do, tank the tournament because they don’t want the pick ? Or teams trying to build cap room ? Be forced to trade it ? Draft and stash ? https://t.co/laxHWd9YMy
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) December 24, 2019
Or the convo if the TBT winner doesn’t make the playoffs. This is like the MLB trying to add drama to the All Star game by using it to assign home field advantage. How did that work out ? I can’t hate an in season winner take all tournament enough. Hopefully TBT has a patent
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) December 24, 2019
It’s an interesting perspective and one I don’t think too many folks thought about. There are a number of teams (namely the very best ones) that don’t value a first round draft pick and would want to get rid of it. As such, the teams that would be most interested in such a tournament would be teams at the bottom — filled with young players that make less and would want that $1 million prize more than say, a team with a couple max stars.
As Cuban goes on to say, he can’t hate an in-season tournament any more, and he hopes the plan falls through. The league’s efforts to spice up the regular season are understandable, but so far the response from players has either been a shrug of the shoulders or saying they’re not interested and now you add a prominent owner to the list of dissenters. We might know more about the plans by All-Star 2020, but expect a pretty strong push back from those opposed to such a change. As Cuban laid out, there might be more teams against it than initially thought once they really begin thinking about all that it will entail.
Written by: Uproxx
