The National Basketball Association announced the schedule for its inaugural in-season tournament yesterday, which divides teams from each conference into groups to compete for the NBA Cup. Regular season games on Tuesdays and Fridays starting on Nov. 3 will count towards the tournament, which will culminate in the semifinals and finals to take place from Las Vegas, Nev.
Ken Carman and Anthony Lima are discussing the Cleveland Cavaliers as they prepare to make strides after a successful regular season last year. With championship aspirations in mind though, Carman finds it hard to believe that he is going to be interested in the in-season tournament as opposed to the regular NBA Playoffs. In short, he is more interested in seeing the team compete for the Larry O’Brien Trophy rather than winning a competition that may or may not prove to be insignificant in the future.
“I don’t like things forced down my throat – most things. This feels forced,” Carman said on 92.3 The Fan on Wednesday morning. “An in-season tournament with the NBA feels forced. I saw the schedule, and I know it’s group play but I’m just going, ‘It’s just basketball games.’ We’re all talking about this being a tournament – it’s just a schedule.”
The games that will count as part of an in-season tournament were unveiled yesterday on a special edition of NBA Today on ESPN. The network, along with TNT, is broadcasting 14 of these games on the national stage leading up to its move to Las Vegas.
Commencement of the in-season tournament comes two seasons before the expiration of the NBA’s national media rights deal, and there is a chance it could impact the negotiations if it is successful. League Commissioner Adam Silver has voiced that the league is looking to amalgamate linear and digital platforms in its next deal, potentially opening a pathway for over-the-top (OTT) streamers such as Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV to enter the negotiations. ESPN is working towards developing a direct-to-consumer product, which reports indicate could launch as soon as 2025.
Carman, however, just does not see the point, leading Lima to point out that he felt similarly about the pitch clock in Major League Baseball. This season, the sport is seeing an approximate 9.5% bump in attendance, leading to more enthralling and engaging action. These developments caused Carman to walk back his previous resistance and admit that the innovation was a positive development for the sport. As for the NBA In-Season Tournament, he foresees himself being correct about the situation and it playing out much differently than some people would expect.
“I can’t see myself doing it,” Carman said of changing his tune. “I don’t think there’s any bit of a difference whatsoever.”
