One of the biggest additions to the NBA over the past couple of years has been the play-in tournament at the end of the regular season. This two-game stretch allows teams who otherwise weren’t going to make the playoffs, get one last shot at glory. This can come at the cost of teams who are in the top eight, as we saw this last year when the Golden State Warriors were knocked off by the Memphis Grizzlies.
While the fans love the play-in tournament, it should be no surprise that the players aren’t exactly as fond of it. LeBron James was a staunch critic of the play-in, although as Adam Silver told TMZ recently, LeBron has come around on the idea.
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“We talked about it,” Silver said. “I think at the end of the day, I understand. Especially if you went deep last year and you have that end, you have that many sort of games on your legs. You’re not looking forward to more games. But, I think he understands the context of the league. […] At the end of the day, the Players Association speaks for the players, and they’ve approved this format for next season. So, I think we wanted to get one more season under our belt that wasn’t a pandemic season, so we could really get a sense of how it works.”
As Silver noted, LeBron and various other players weren’t too keen on playing more games all while risking their status as a playoff team. However, Silver is open to changing things in the future, and he would love to collaborate with LeBron if necessary. After all, James is the face of the league and you don’t want him upset with the product.
[Via]