Last year’s 72-game season was created out of COVID-19 necessity, but it seemed to confirm Adam Silver’s belief about changing the regular season model and integrating an in-season tournament.
“It was far from a perfect experiment,” Silver said during an interview with Yahoo Sports on a variety of topics in the days leading to All-Star weekend in Cleveland. “[But] the fact there were fewer games was quickly forgotten.”
Silver corrected himself to not put an exact approximation on the number of ideal games, considering it takes away revenue for home games outside of an in-season tournament. But like the All-Star Game’s Elam Ending, Silver has shown he isn’t willing to just stick with tradition — and will at least probe the public to gauge interest.
“I think we were moving closer to it,” Silver said, while noting a change wouldn’t happen next season. “But I feel we’ve had productive conversations with the Players Association, whose approval, of course, would be required to change the format. And my sense is there’s a fair amount of interest.”
He was coy on how an in-season tournament would be structured, but clearly getting players juiced for games outside the normal grind is appealing. While it’s true hardly anyone complained about players resting during last year’s unconventional 72-game season, it was understood unique circumstances created the schedule and just getting through the season and finishing was the goal.
There’s a general belief the 82-game season doesn’t generate enough everyday excitement, even though this season has represented a shift in conference balance, leading to more competitive teams in the Eastern Conference. As a result, the early window in the national TV doubleheaders has had more favorable matchups which helps TV ratings.
But Silver has long been a proponent of changing the status quo.
“I think we have to approach a change in the schedule very seriously, both on behalf of the teams and the players, because at least in the short run, it would reduce our overall revenue,” Silver said.
Borrowing from European soccer and even college basketball is what Silver is thinking. He doesn’t believe an incentive-laden in-season tournament would take away from the pursuit of an NBA championship.
The reward of $1 million per player was floated, but not confirmed. And a concept of Olympic-style pool play culminating with a winner seemed to make sense.
Silver was clear in making sure the tournament wouldn’t take place precisely at the midseason mark, but at some point in the regular season — while ensuring the calendar stays on track from an October start to a June finish.
“There’s tournaments [in other sports] along the way where players, I’m sure feel an extra boost of competitiveness around winning a particular trophy,” Silver said. “And that’s what we’re looking at. It’s complicated.”
Everything has been complicated with the league over the past couple years, as is the case with all professional sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Silver has been as proactive relative to other commissioners in sports.
“It became in vogue to say, ‘follow the science’ at the beginning of the pandemic, and I may have been one of the people to say that,” Silver said. “Of course, science is critical, but you also have to look at the impact it has on people’s psyche, on the economy, on people’s willingness to comply with rules. And I think that I see that as a microcosm within the league, but also in greater society.”
COVID-19 fatigue has set in around the country and the league will still be recovering economically for years to come. Perhaps it was a miscalculation the public would be as disciplined on safety habits or as diligent toward vaccinations, and the NBA isn’t immune to that. The health and safety protocol numbers have dropped drastically after a rough holiday season, and mask mandates are lifting across the country.
“I have no doubt when somebody writes that book, on this two-year stretch, at least in terms of how it impacted the NBA, it’ll be clear that there are things that we should have done differently and didn’t understand the situation at time,” Silver said.
It’s arguable to note the NBA hasn’t been as consistent in some areas, but there was always a feeling it operated in good faith while also attempting to balance the capitalism and safety aspects — two differing agendas.
“And one clear lesson I learned, I mean, I think a very positive one for the NBA community is that you have to work in partnership,” Silver said. “And during a crisis like this, we got to where we are because everyone was willing to listen, keep listening, and then compromise. Compromises that our teams made, there are plenty of compromises our players made, public officials working with us accommodated us, allowed us first to play in that bubble in Orlando, and then to play last year, for the most part, back in our arenas.”
It’s been a long road back from when the NBA world first began to hear the word “coronavirus” at All-Star 2020 in Chicago. COVID-19 hadn’t made its way to the states yet, but it was a few weeks away from the NBA shutting down in early March.
The world was unmasked, and Chicago was cold and crowded — a recipe for plenty of infections. But hardly anyone knew what was to come, and Silver feels like this All-Star weekend in Cleveland is a line of demarcation.
“Two years ago was the last time we all gathered as a league,” Silver said. “And while you know I’ve been to plenty of games, since then, in most cases, it hasn’t been where a lot of NBA personnel have gathered, or, for that matter, our business partners. So I’m most looking forward to just spending time with people.”
The NBA’s 75th anniversary will be celebrated. As the former head of NBA entertainment, the fan in Silver is looking forward to the festivities, hopefully on the road to normalcy — whatever it looks like.
“I think this year will be that much more special because fingers crossed, it will seem to have bookended this pandemic,” Silver said. “Hopefully, we’re well on our way to the end of this pandemic, and a return to maybe a normality that looks a little bit different, but something a lot closer than to what we’re used to.”
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