NBA commissioner Adam Silver is getting his wish regarding the league’s play-in tournament.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday that the NBA and the Players Association have agreed to once again hold the play-in tournament as part of the 2021-22 season. A vote by the league’s Board of Governors is expected to be a formality.
The NBA and the Players Association have agreed to extend the play-in tournament format through the 2021-2022 season, sources tell ESPN. The league’s Board of Governors will make it official in a formal vote soon.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 16, 2021
This is no surprise, as the league had made maintaining the play-in tournament a key priority. While reception to the idea was mixed at best among players, several of the games were big winners on television and the league loved the attention it brought. There is also a belief that, by effectively giving two more teams in each conference the chance to make the playoffs, more teams were playing meaningful games down the stretch than would have been under the old format where the top eight teams in each conference simply made the playoff field.
Silver has made no secret that he wants the play-in tournament to be a permanent fixture. Expect the NBA to push for it to continue even beyond next season’s agreement.
