The NBA no longer has to prove that it knows how to organize events, between the success of the health bubble for the play-offs introduced in the summer of 2020, and the enthronement of the play-in which allowed franchises to be fight to the end to secure a place for the final tournament. But League President Adam Silver does not intend to stop there. A meeting is scheduled for this month of September between the League and franchise owners, and several points will be discussed including the removal of excessive replays in the last minutes of matches, and the establishment of a new tournament in the middle. of the season. This is the site The Athletic who announced it via his insider Shams Charania on Twitter. According to him, the boss of the League would like to introduce a new tournament format in the middle of the season with a reward of one million dollars per player for the winning team. If the superstars of the League would not necessarily be very interested in this award given their astronomical salary, players with more “modest” salary could be very motivated.

The NBA is discussing having an in-season tournament in future seasons, with $1 million per player in prize money, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The concept was discussed on a Competition Committee call today.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 13, 2021

Inspired by European football

Adam Silver would like to learn from football and its European competitions played in midweek in addition to the league games. ” It is for this reason that I am particularly interested in different formats, like tournaments, for example, because even if the players have miles in their legs, there may be other ways to present it. »He explained in 2019. This format would then require a big upheaval in the already ultra-tight schedule of franchises with 82 regular season games each, plus the All Star Game break at mid-season and the play-off games. in and play-offs at the end of the season.