On Saturday night, the NBA unveiled its new In-Season Tournament, and the fan response was … decidedly mixed and featured a lot of confusion!
The new In-Season Tournament will take place in November and December and will basically make the beginning of the season matter more… if teams buy into the idea that the brand-new NBA Cup is something that they’d actually want to win.
Yes, the NBA Cup is now a thing. It’s not the hallowed Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy that a team gets if they win the NBA Finals, rather a smaller trophy that a team can win in December in Las Vegas apparently… and then go right back to playing in the regular season.
We’ll let NBA veteran Richard Jefferson take it from here. Don’t worry if all of this goes over your head; you’re not alone on that.
NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT EXPLAINED 🎥
Starting Nov. 3, all 30 teams will compete for the NBA Cup with 8 teams advancing into the knockout rounds! The tournament semis and championship game will be held in Las Vegas, Dec. 7 and 9! pic.twitter.com/NZdURUa3XR
— NBA (@NBA) July 8, 2023
Here are how all the groups break down for the tournament.
The full group breakdown of the new NBA in-season tournament 🍿 pic.twitter.com/ts78pfMJAQ
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 9, 2023
At the least, it’s not Jefferson’s fault that his explanation video got NBA fans so confused as to how this all works and what the ultimate goal of this tournament is. He deserves credit for trying to make this format seem exciting.
Will this make the earliest games in the NBA season just a bit more interesting? Probably. Does this format make a ton of sense right now? Not…not really? Are the players and fans going to embrace this? Maybe?
Is there really a point to any of this in the grand scheme of things? We genuinely have no idea. Will it at least be fun? Golly, we hope so.
Maybe this will work, and you’ll find NBA fans out there who are excited for what’s coming. However, there is some stark confusion out there right now that’s probably not going away anytime soon.
Feature image courtesy of ESPN.
The internet had some thoughts.
An unnecessary NBA In-Season Tournament during peak NFL & College Football Season pic.twitter.com/huI9LWKMNC
— Bryce Hayes (@nxtprodigy) July 9, 2023
Me after having the NBA In-Season Tournament explained to mepic.twitter.com/T4jOOpCuwK
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) July 9, 2023
the NBA trying to force the in-season tournament on us pic.twitter.com/qUksxiFmWk
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) July 8, 2023
Maybe the format and the interest level will all work. But as long as Adam Silver has been talking about this, the best the NBA could do for a name was In-Season Tournament?
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) July 9, 2023
I fundamentally don't understand the NBA In-Season Tournament. Am I missing something? There are no stakes. Talk to me when the winner unlocks their 90s uniforms for the rest of the season. pic.twitter.com/XshnHE5Kim
— NFL Fashion Advice (@fashion_nfl) July 9, 2023
I can’t say I understand the NBA In-Season Tournament. pic.twitter.com/4QuhA9vzvZ
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) July 9, 2023
I don't get what's so tough about this in-season NBA Tournament. If you win on a Tuesday, you get an immunity idol for the next challenge. If you win on a Friday, You can choose your weapon for the thunderdome match in Vegas. Very simple. This NBA thread goes into it too I guess. https://t.co/yVmIPHhU1S
— Gordon Gross (@GMoneyNuggs) July 9, 2023
I can’t be the only one that didn’t understand a single thing https://t.co/us3mYcNRiZ
— rae (@_raelewis) July 9, 2023
I still cannot figure out what the actual point of this is…
Like okay, you win the in-season tournament. So what?
The goal is to win an NBA Championship. https://t.co/FZjaq4leRn
— RB (@RBPhillyTake) July 9, 2023
The in-season NBA Tournament is so hokey and stupid
— Mason Voth (@TheRealMasonV) July 9, 2023
The two big flaws of the NBA in-season tournament are the name and the fact that group play counts toward the regular season.
— Adi Joseph (@AdiJoseph) July 9, 2023
The most hilarious part is that they're doing the exact same stupid thing pro wrestling does with tournaments. It means nothing.
At the LEAST you could guarantee a playoff spot. Maybe even home court in Round 1.
Then you make this stupid meaningless thing have some value. https://t.co/yjrgzWREoA
— Glenn Clark (@GlennClarkRadio) July 9, 2023
So now we’ll have a cup champion? This really just seems like a way to get more money and a bigger presence in Vegas. https://t.co/fhfWDuFMr2
— Kelsey Nicole Nelson (KNN) (@therealknelson) July 9, 2023
Competing with NFL and CFB instead of sticking this in the dead period of February is so deeply stupid https://t.co/UJHFWumevK
— Ben Alterman (@ben_alterman) July 9, 2023
NBA players already have to do an 82 game season, which is insane, add all star game and now you want to add more games?!? This makes 0 sense https://t.co/AOBREbov0n
— neche (@TVHEAUXX) July 9, 2023
This could be a hit if the players play competitively . Is it worth risking injuries for this tournament over making it to the playoffs🤔 https://t.co/EpZI6Qgz8z
— Boateng Alexander (@Slymorh3) July 9, 2023
