The NBA appears firmly committed to implementing an in-season tournament to its schedule in the years to come, but the league’s most outspoken owner is clearly a firm opponent.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sounded off about the possibility of an in-season tournament on Tuesday after Marc Stein of the New York Times reported that the NBA is considering granting the winning team an extra first-round pick as potential incentive to win the tournament. That proposal was panned by Cuban, who also made clear that he hates the whole thing in a series of tweets.
So Dumb. What will teams that are in the tax going out do, tank the tournament because they don't want the pick ? Or teams trying to build cap room ? Be forced to trade it ? Draft and stash ? https://t.co/laxHWd9YMy
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) December 24, 2019
And to create incremental financial incentives to play games just sends so many wrong messages. Free agency recruitment will change. "Hey, we can't compete for a ring, but we go all out for the TBT, so sign with us and u could make another $1m"
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) December 24, 2019
Or the convo if the TBT winner doesn't make the playoffs. This is like the MLB trying to add drama to the All Star game by using it to assign home field advantage. How did that work out ? I can't hate an in season winner take all tournament enough. Hopefully TBT has a patent
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) December 24, 2019
Cuban’s comments illustrate the level of resistance there will be in some NBA circles to the changes the league wants to make. While the NBA clearly wants to increase interest in the regular season, it’s an open question whether fans would even care about an in-season tournament, even with significant rewards for winning players. The NBA is going to have to address the points made by people like Cuban, because it’s fair to say there is a lot of skepticism right now.
