LeBron and Luka are upset because the NBA is making them
earn their playoff entry. And I love it.
I’m here to say I could not have been more wrong, as the
negative comments from LeBron and Luka in recent weeks reveal.
Both star players are upset because they feel that a whole
season should not come down to one game at the end. But that’s not what’s
happening at all. Instead, the play-in has provided an amazing incentive to
play hard down the stretch to make the top 6, so you avoid the play-in
tournament. More game matters, not just the last one.
In short, LeBron and Luka are upset because the NBA has
instituted the closest thing to a meritocracy in American sports in decades and
they don’t know how to react.
We see this all the time in European soccer, where clubs
have to qualify for the Champions League and many have to go through extra
playoff rounds to get to the group stage. Ditto for the Copa Liberatores in
South America, and CONCACAF’s Champions League in North America.
The same thing applies for the World Cup, as some teams are
able to directly qualify for the World Cup finals while others have to go
through a playoff round to get there. No one in soccer cries about it because
they understand that’s how it works.
Major League Baseball instituted something similar when
adding a second Wild Card team and, predictably, people complained that it was
unfair that a 162-game season would be decided by one game. That’s the beauty
of sports! You play the 162 to win your division to avoid that one-game
playoff. That’s the incentive.
If there was no play-in tournament, the Lakers and Mavericks
would be coasting to the playoffs without anything to play for, as has been the
case for the entirety of my life. Instead, every game feels more important than
ever. It’s not as if the Lakers are going to be eliminated completely if they
go into the play-in – in fact, they would just have to win one of two games
against teams they are clearly better than. Why is this bad?
For the Pelicans, it gives them hope. In the old format,
their season would essentially be done, barring a miracle. Today, they are within
range of catching the Spurs, and can you even imagine what a play-in game
between Steph Curry’s Warriors and Zion’s Pelicans would be like? Or even more
delicious, a Warriors/Lakers play-in game?
The NBA has not only figured out a way to keep teams and
fans interested in the final weeks of the regular season, but they’ve added 3
playoff games that will not ruin the structure of the playoffs while adding
tremendous value. It’s a stroke of brilliance.
As an NBA fan in Washington, D.C., the play-in tournament
couldn’t be timed any better. The Wizards dug themselves a mighty hole to start
the season, due in large part to COVID running through the team at the onset of
the season, delaying the meshing of Russ Westbrook and Bradley Beal, on top of
numerous injuries. Oh yeah, and Scott Brooks sucks.
Still, the Wizards are currently in 10th. In a normal year,
they’d be chasing down the 8 seed, with only two games to make up in the final
weeks of the season. Yet, they are still chasing down the 8 seed, because doing
so would give them a much different path to the playoffs. As an 8 seed, they’d
be guaranteed to play two games and would just have to win one. As a 9 or 10
seed, they’d need to win two games in a row to make the playoffs.
It has ended up as a genius move from NBA commissioner Adam
Silver, who has seen his exalted status questioned in recent months. This
hasn’t been the best season for the NBA, with a compressed schedule with too
many games to chase too much money and causing too many injuries. Through that
smoke, the play-in tournament has been a revelation.
Don’t ignore LeBron or Luka, though, because their opinions
mean far more than you’d think. Their dislike of a merit-based system for the
playoffs is exactly why it’s so great.
I’ve never been more interested in the final weeks of the
NBA regular season, while still as excited as ever for the playoffs to start.
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