Before we get all anecdotal, before we dig up the complaints and criticisms of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament, before we address the future of the neon-red courts or argue over alternatives to tiebreakers decided by point differentials, let’s state the obvious: The in-season tournament has been an unqualified success.
Just look at the numbers. Local viewership for group-play games was up 20% from games played last November. National games shot up 26%. League Pass viewership for the seven group-play nights increased by 25%. The league’s average attendance (18,206) was the highest for November, while the NBA’s app and social channels had their best first month of the season (3.9 billion video views) ever.
“From our perspective,” says Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball strategy and analytics, “the tournament has been incredibly successful.”
