Will anybody – players or fans – care about the NBA In-Season Tournament?

In case you missed it, the NBA made some major news recently. 

The flopping rule created a little buzz, but the real doozy was the announcement of an in-season tournament, conveniently called the In-Season Tournament. So, why is the NBA doing this? And – more importantly – will anybody care? Let’s explore.

The In-Season Tournament involves all 30 teams. It starts with each team playing four group-stage games in their conference. The six winners will then move on to the knockout rounds, in which all games are single elimination. This will culminate in a final four and then a championship game.

If this is something you’ll be eager to watch, the NBA will love you. If, however, you’re already yawning, you are certainly not alone. While anything meant to provide some spark to a very long season could be good, the tournament seems a little ill-conceived.

First of all, every game in the tournament (except the championship) still counts as a regular season game. Secondly, once a team is eliminated, they don’t get to don street clothes and watch their buddies duke it out in another round. The season still has to continue, so they will just play other eliminated teams. Also, the final two games and championship will be played in Las Vegas, so unless fans want to cough up a lot of money for travel and lodging expenses – as well as probably pricey tickets – they won’t be able to watch in person.

So, what does the NBA get out of this? The In-Season Tournament starts in early November and ends in mid-December. Unless you’re a diehard basketball fan, there’s a good chance that most of the sports you watch during this period will involve football. That is perhaps the main reason for the tournament. The NBA is hoping to drive some interest in what’s considered the dead period of the season. The league is perhaps also hoping that this will light the competitive fire of players so they don’t sleepwalk through the early part of the schedule.

Speaking of the players, what do they get out of this? Well, not a whole lot. While the winning team gets the NBA Cup (yes, actual name), and bragging rights (whatever that’s worth), of course there are some monetary incentives. Just for showing up, players will get $50,000. And if you’re on the winning team, you’ll get a cool $500,000. Not bad, right? Well, if you consider that the average player makes nearly $10 million per year, tournament winnings kind of look like chump change.

But who knows? Maybe the In-Season Tournament will catch on and both fans and players will love it. Or, perhaps, like the doomed New Ball era or when they moved the three-point line, it will go down as another failed experiment.