There will be a drastically new look to the early months of the 2023-24 NBA season. As approved by the league this off-season, there will now be a yearly in-season tournament, which the league will use to combat the growing lack of interest in the regular season.

NBA Targeting The Casual Fan

“Let’s say it was the [David] Stern Cup… We have to recognize the casual fan that wants to know there’s something more at stake and that’s where I think these cup competitions come in.”

Adam Silver on the In-Season Tournament.

(via @shobasketball)pic.twitter.com/G1y4Lmw1Gn

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 26, 2023

The NBA has long been a playoff sport. It has the longest schedule of any major league, stretching from mid-October to mid-June, and the 82-game schedule is a slog for the players, coaches, and organizations.

It is tiresome for the fan, too. There will always be the hardcore fanatics who watch every game and follow their teams from season’s start to season’s end. But for the casual fan, or even the one who doesn’t have time to invest in every-night viewing, there is very little to get excited about when the Hornets play the Pacers in late November.

According to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, that is exactly who the league is targeting with the implementation of the In-Season Tournament.

Silver Points To NCAA Tournament As Model For Obtaining Fans

“I don’t watch too much NBA. I watch more college basketball… It’s too much of everybody shooting threes. You’re jacking up and taking terrible basketball shots. I don’t see that on the college level.”

Tracy McGrady on why he doesn’t watch the NBA regular season

Thoughts… pic.twitter.com/S51aL6qun5

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 25, 2023

In an interview with Kevin Garnett as a part of Showtime Basketball, Silver answered a myriad of questions, including some about the new event.

“There’s the casual fan that wants a game of consequence. Take college basketball. No doubt there are a lot of fans to the college regular season. Come the tournament, they’re all in. Another group of fans, Final Four. I’m in. Oh its the championship game Monday night”

If the college basketball model for grabbing the attention of new fans is the goal, then the NBA is well on their way to making that happen. The new tournament is certainly unorthodox and will take some getting used to, as there will be basketball purists who will hate the idea.

But they hated the idea of the play-in tournament too, which has so far been a success around the league. There will be an adjustment period, and Silver even acknowledges that it may take a year or two for the popularity to catch on.

“New traditions aren’t created overnight. Some people said to me, ‘Well, whose going to care who wins that’ I say okay, well, That’s maybe not going to happen the first time around. Will there be incentives to win Sure.”

The new event is scheduled to start in mid-November, and the championship game will be played in Las Vegas during the second weekend of December.

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