The NBA Playoffs are in full swing. As the second round progresses, let’s take a look at basketball’s playoff format which has been discussed and dissected for many years. The Play-In Tournament was implemented to integrate more top players into the postseason and to generate more interest in the regular season. Now that this wrinkle has been in practice in some form or another for five seasons, let’s judge how the games have panned out, what it has meant for the postseason, and how it has influenced the regular season.
On most accounts, the tournament has had little impact on the postseason and even less on the regular season. The idea of the Play-In Tournament sparked the idea of remodeling the NBA Postseason. The implementation of the play-in system with a new playoff structure has the potential to help increase interest in the regular season and urgency in the postseason.
How will the Play-In Tournament continue to impact the regular season?
Evaluating The NBA Play-In Tournament
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When first introduced, the NBA’s Play-In Tournament was met with ridicule. The concept of adding teams to a postseason that already featured more than half the league was one thing but the bracket mechanics of getting the final playoff field secured was the main source of consternation by fans and media alike. Five years into this experiment, it is time to admit that there are aspects that have to stay and some that have to go.
At the beginning of the 2024 postseason, the Eastern Conference’s 9/10 matchup of the play-in featured two teams that were under .500 with the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks. The latter finished a startling 10 games under .500 at 36-46. No team this bad should be getting a chance to shine in the postseason. The separation of the regular season and the postseason should leave teams like the Atlanta Hawks at home.
There hasn’t been a lot of parity with the Play-In Tournament. In the current iteration of the field, there have been three underdogs to make it out of the tournament. Of the possible 16 playoff spots generated by the Play-In Tournament, if only three have resulted in a different final field than otherwise would’ve been, especially with the level of play in the games, then changes have to be made.
What the NBA Has To Change
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As noted earlier, the impetus for the Play-In Tournament was waning interest in the regular season from teams and fans. With a widened playoff opportunity, the hope was to avoid tanking from teams who wouldn’t ordinarily be in the playoff chase. In practice, this hasn’t been the case. Teams are still tanking for draft picks and fans are still infinitely more attentive in the postseason than in the regular season.
To fix this and keep the play-in concept, I have an idea for the NBA Postseason. Keep the same play-in format, just move the seeds up. Instead of the NBA Play-In Tournament comprising of the 7-10 seeds, make it the 5-8 seeds. With the inequality of teams remaining, give the top two seeds in both conferences a bye into the second round. The goal of an 82-game regular season should be to reward the teams that succeed in it. Creating incentives for teams to value the regular season can energize fans and teams alike.
The other problem for the NBA in recent years has been urgency. Load management and lousy effort have become the norm for regular season games and fans have responded accordingly. The scope of these problems has reached the postseason now as well. Players have been less averse to missing playoff games with injuries, especially early in a series. To combat this and create urgency, the NBA needs to adopt something like the MLB playoff setup.
After the Play-In Tournament, the first round should be a Best-of-3 series with the higher seed hosting all games. The second round matchup should be a regular Best-of-5 series. Creating urgency early on can incentivize fans to watch and players to strive for a higher seed in the regular season.
Impact of a New NBA Postseason
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From the second round on, the NBA playoffs would remain unchanged with a Best-of-7 series to determine the conference champions and ultimately the NBA champions. By reducing the number of games in the postseason, the NBA can schedule more off days for teams during the regular season. This should help improve the product on the court before the playoffs and help teams rest, recover, and prepare more on their way to them.
As the 2024 NBA playoffs progress, just see how much intrigue there is early in these series. The Cleveland/Orlando matchup went virtually unrecognized and teams from the play-in have all gone home. The NBA is in a good place, but they could become so much better if they increase interest and urgency, with the results coming in both the regular and post seasons.
