A midseason tournament could help the league address its concerns with the All-Star GameNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said a second "cup" for NBA teams to play for every year -- similar to what occurs in European soccer -- is "in the conceptual phase," according to Marc Stein of the N.Y. TIMES. Silver said that he and various team execs have "posed the question regularly: Why does such a long basketball season offer only one true prize?" Stein noted it will "take collectively bargained consent" from the NBPA to "make actual changes to the NBA's current format." The league's main broadcast partners -- ESPN and Turner -- "would be granted considerable input, too." Silver "made it clear" that he has "yet to make a formal proposal" to NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts. But league officials have been discussing different concepts "behind the scenes for some time." One is an "in-season tournament; the other is a play-in tournament at the end of the regular season to create additional pathways to the playoffs." Silver "strongly hinted that he would like to try some new things in the relatively near future if he can secure the requisite buy-in." A midseason tournament "could help the league address its concerns with the All-Star Game." The NBA "continues to treasure" the game and its surrounding weekend, but it "can't shake fears that the headliner game has outlived its usefulness." Stein: "Imagine, then, an All-Star weekend that instead features the semifinals and the final of a Champions League-style knockout tournament in addition to the usual 3-point shootout and dunk contest" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/1).
