One of the inventions that the NBA came up with for the Orlando bubble may be returning next year if commissioner Adam Silver gets his way.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the NBA is hoping to incorporate the play-in format it used to decide the No. 8 seed in the Orlando bubble. The format was utilized in the Western Conference, when No. 9 seed Memphis finished within four games of No. 8 Portland.
It’s not clear if the tournament would have the exact same rules. What is clear is that Silver wants to add some sort of play-in element to the playoffs. That’s been the case for some time, as this was floated well before the pandemic. There was some hesitancy from teams to add games to the schedule, but with a shortened season on the horizon, that will be less of a concern.
The hope of keeping this in does not come as a surprise. It added some extra excitement to the playoffs and opened the field up to another team that otherwise would have fallen short of the playoffs.
