Photo Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Adam Silver Wants To Make NBA Play-In Tournament Permanent

The NBA’s addition of a play-in tournament between the 7, 8, 9 and 10 seeds in the respective conferences has been dividing the basketball world in recent weeks.

Now that the play-ins are done and we’re about to start the playoffs, we have to admit that they definitely add more excitement to the NBA. The last couple of games of the regular season appeared to be more tense and exciting, and the play-ins itself were breathtaking at times.

The TV-ratings also speak for itself, having been some of the best in years. This is why NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to see the tournament around long-term.

Speaking on ESPN Radio, Silver revealed that he still needs to convince some teams and players that the tournament is worth keeping around, but also that it has mostly gotten support from the key figures it needed to.

“I haven’t made any secret that I want it to be [around long term]…I have two constituencies I need to convince of that. One is the 30 teams, and I think for the most part they’ve supported it. Again, I understand the sentiment if I were a team — a 7-seed in particular — the notion [that] after a long season, you could potentially play out of the playoffs. I understand those feelings. I think at the same time, the teams recognize the amount of additional interest we’ve created over the last month of the season plus those play-in games make it worth it.”