This conversation starts with a simple fact: The NBA season is too long, and it’s often boring. Fans know this. So does the media. The players know it, too, especially the aging superstars whose teams are trying to keep them healthy by trying the latest variation on load management.
Adam Silver is aware of all this, too, and he’s trying to do something about it. His latest band-aid is the in-season tournament, aka the NBA Emirates Cup. It’s happening right now, and it was designed to spark NBA interest during November when the excitement of all the season openers and the early jockeying for position has faded.
But there’s one problem with all this: It’s not working. Fans know a fraud when they see one, and that's exactly what the Emirates NBA Cup is.
The NBA Cup isn’t a bad idea…on paper
Silver borrowed this idea from soccer, which has in-season tournaments all the time. In soccer they’re part of the flow of the sport, which has an established international fan base. These tournaments give fans from many nations the opportunity to see different stars and their teams, and some have been in place for decades. Many of the countries where these tournaments are held are reasonably close geographically, which simplifies the travel a little.
The NBA, meanwhile, is still primarily a US entity, albeit one with designs on expanding into international markets. They’ve made huge inroads in the three decades since David Stern made this a priority, but a tournament that parallels the international structure of soccer constitutes a major leap of faith by Silver.
The scheduling issues behind the NBA Cup are formidable
Anything after March 1st brings the tournament too close to the start of the playoffs, and tying the tournament to the All-Star game is beyond tricky, as Silver has discovered when he’s floated several jerry-rigged ideas for doing this.
Landing too close to Christmas is also out of the question, which leaves November. Silver is nothing if not determined to push this tournament concept through, so the Emirates NBA Cup is currently happening in fits and starts after LeBron James and the Lakers absurdly hoisted a banner for winning the inaugural version of the tournament.
This comes with a whole different set of problems—one night your team is playing an ordinary November road game, then the next game features special court designs and new balls with spiffy logos. There’s no consistency, which means there’s no motivation for anyone other than hardcore hoop fans to spend the time to figure it all out.
The rewards for winning the NBA Cup are laughable
Silver’s biggest mistake with the NBA Cup is the rewards that are being offered for the winner. Every member of the winning team makes $500K, with the runner-up teams also getting a lower six-figure sum. That’s a lot of cash for the average working stiff, and it's a good deal for the guys down at the end of the bench.
But it's chump change for most of the guys on an NBA roster. It’s especially goofy for the superstars like James, Steph Curry, etc. to do a lot of work to get the extra cash, given that who are making $50-60 million a year on extended multi-year contracts.
Then there’s the extra travel. The championship game is played in Las Vegas and it doesn’t count in the standings, which means there’s little or no motivation for Eastern Conference powers like Boston and Cleveland to win and add another long trip to a schedule that’s already brutal.
Is there a better solution?
Adam Silver is going to keep pushing this tournament because he’s got his eyes on the long game. He’s betting that over time the NBA Cup will take on more value and become more relevant, and there’s a good chance he'll bump up the financial rewards to make that happen.
Is there a better way to solve the length and boredom issues that come with the NBA season right now? You bet, but it’s a third-rail solution that no one in the league wants to touch: Play fewer games.
A 60-game season, for instance would be far more competitive, and it would largely eliminate the need for load management and gimmicky, meaningless tournaments. Teams would play 2-3 times a week with no back-to-backs, which would make each game matter more. You’d still have your share of midseason dog games, but the schedule would no longer be a convenient scapegoat.
The third rail element here is the money, of course. Right now the networks and the NBA’s media partners rely on a constant flow of content, which is why they’re paying billions to secure the rights.
Diminishing that flow would lower the value of those rights contracts, and owners would lose huge amounts of ticket revenue, concessions and parking money. Those losses would flow downhill, which means players and coaches would have to take less, too.
That’s why it will never happen, but it would improve the quality of play and eliminate the need for the league to try and shove ideas like the fraudulent NBA Cup down the throats of the paying customers.