NBA Could Reportedly Shift To New Playoff Format Upon Return
The NBA is on lockdown due to Coronavirus but that hasn’t stopped them from trying to put together new ideas.
If you’re a sports fan, the last week or so has been absolute torture and it’s not going to get better anytime soon. Pretty well every league in the world has been shut down due to the Coronavirus and the NBA was the first to do so after one of its players tested positive for the virus. Now, the NBA is working on a way to get their league back up and running, as soon as possible. Of course, they want to do this once they get clearance from organizations like the CDC and WHO.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, if the NBA were to come back this summer, they would want to consider a new playoff format. Essentially, there would be only a few regular-season games played before the top eight teams in each conference duke it out for the title. The key difference is that the first couple of rounds could be a best of five instead of a best of seven.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
For those who don’t know, the NBA used to have best of fives during the first round from 1984-2002. This would certainly be good for timing although revenue from television rights and ticket sales would see a dramatic decrease.
At the moment, none of these plans are finalized and will only be considered if the league does, in fact, return. If the season is canceled entirely, then these measures can be thrown out the window.
The NBA is on lockdown due to Coronavirus but that hasn’t stopped them from trying to put together new ideas.
If you’re a sports fan, the last week or so has been absolute torture and it’s not going to get better anytime soon. Pretty well every league in the world has been shut down due to the Coronavirus and the NBA was the first to do so after one of its players tested positive for the virus. Now, the NBA is working on a way to get their league back up and running, as soon as possible. Of course, they want to do this once they get clearance from organizations like the CDC and WHO.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, if the NBA were to come back this summer, they would want to consider a new playoff format. Essentially, there would be only a few regular-season games played before the top eight teams in each conference duke it out for the title. The key difference is that the first couple of rounds could be a best of five instead of a best of seven.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
For those who don’t know, the NBA used to have best of fives during the first round from 1984-2002. This would certainly be good for timing although revenue from television rights and ticket sales would see a dramatic decrease.
At the moment, none of these plans are finalized and will only be considered if the league does, in fact, return. If the season is canceled entirely, then these measures can be thrown out the window.