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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NBA Wants Proposed Schedule Changes To Extend Multiple Seasons

The NBA is "no longer adamant" that proposed changes to the league's calendar be ready for the '21-22 season, and instead of "just making these changes for a one-time only special season, the league is looking at instituting changes for multiple seasons," according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY. The NBA wants the changes over multiple seasons in order to "see how it works with the option of continuing if stakeholders like what transpires." The in-season tournament "remains a popular idea at the league office even though there is resistance," including from Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban. The play-in tournament for the final two playoff seeds in each conference has "gained enough traction to become a reality, and the league will also take a deeper look at the amount of games played." Initially, the proposal "called for a 78-game regular season, but the NBA wants to explore what the right number of games per season is." One proposal that "might not make it through is reseeding of the final four playoff teams regardless of conference so that the two finalists could come from the same conference" (USA TODAY, 1/20).

PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN: ESPN's Brian Windhorst said instituting the proposed schedule changes by '21-22 was a "tall order" for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, but it "really is an interesting referendum on where he is in his commissionership." When late Commissioner David Stern "wanted something, he could force the owners into line and a lot of time they hated him for it." Silver "completely operates the NBA in a different vein and he doesn't have the same ownership sway." Silver "doesn't have that power," and the proposed changes were "something he wanted." Windhorst: "This is the biggest defeat of Adam Silver's tenure to this point." ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz said as commissioner, one "kind of (has) to be Lyndon Baines Johnson" because it is "harder to be Barack Obama." Johnson was a "guy who could get stuff through and you do it through, at time, extortion, bullying and that's just not" Silver's speed. Arnovitz said there is a noticeable difference between today's owners and those during Stern's tenure because today's owners are "masters of the universe who come from the private equity, from the venture capital world (and) these guys are not going to be dictated to by a skinny attorney." Arnovitz cited a source as saying the in-season tournament would not receive the votes it needed because it was "basically too much too fast." Arnovitz: "They believe it'll happen at some point down the road (and) there is an acknowledgment there needs to be reform on the schedule" ("Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective," ESPN.com, 1/20).

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