Dallas Mavs in NBA In-Season Tournament? Mark Owner Reveals Opinion
The NBA is progressing toward including an in-season tournament in part of the 2023-24 regular season calendar. It remains to be seen what the incentives will be to entice participation from teams and players.
An old interview that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban participated in featured comments stating the team may "sit out" of an in-season tournament if it were to become integrated into the regular NBA calendar.
"In terms of in season tournament, I'm not a fan. I can see the Mavs not participating at all or resting our best players," Cuban said. "Until they give me one of those [The Larry O'Brien Trophy] the prize is the prize."
After Cuban's old comments circulated following the latest reporting on the in-season tournament, he told Marc Stein that he is "actually open to it."
"Cuban, though, told me he is a proponent of expanding the NBA draft from its current two rounds to four and proposing that the winner of an NBA in-season cup gets the top pick in both the third and fourth round of an expanded draft," Stein tweeted. "With the proviso that picks can't be traded."
Some have questioned the need for an in-season tournament. The sentiment around the NBA is that early season ratings tend to be lower as the league competes with the NFL and college football. By having a more anticipated event earlier in the calendar, the goal is to elevate viewership.
Much like the idea of league expansion, an in-season tournament would offer the NBA another boost of potential revenue to help recoup losses experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main obstacle has been the idea of incentivizing players and teams to participate. The players on the winning team and runner-up of the tournament are likely to be compensated, but again, will star players like Luka Doncic care to make a million dollars when they are on maximum contracts already?
The exact details of the in-season tournament have yet to be revealed. There are still some concerns to address, but regardless, the motivation for it is clear.
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