Two days before the NBA releases the full regular-season schedule, it pulled back the curtain on part of its slate of games in November and December that it hopes to make more interesting to the average fan.
New this year is the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, taking place from Nov. 3 to Dec. 9. The league has split its 30 teams into six groups of five — the Utah Jazz’s group includes the Memphis Grizzlies, L.A. Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Portland Trail Blazers. From Nov. 3 to Nov. 28, the league will have group play on “Tournament Nights” on Tuesdays and Fridays — all games played on those nights will be tournament games.
Utah’s In-Season Tournament schedule
Nov. 10 — @ Memphis, 6 p.m. MT
Nov. 14 — vs. Portland, 7 p.m. MT
Nov. 17 — vs. Phoenix (ESPN), 8 p.m. MT
Nov. 21 — @ Lakers (TNT), 8 p.m. MT
If the Jazz win their group — or win a wild-card berth by having the best record of any Western Conference non-group winner — they’d move into an eight-team knockout round, with a quarterfinal game on Dec. 4 or 5, a semifinal on Dec. 7, and the final on Dec. 9.
The 22 teams that don’t make it into the knockout round will instead have two regular season games added to their schedule on Dec. 6 and 8 — opponents to be determined by the NBA. The teams that lose in the quarterfinal will play each other on Dec. 8. In the end, all teams but two will play 82 games overall. (The In-Season Tournament finalists, though, will play 83.)
What does it mean?
All in all, it’s a worthwhile experiment by the league. Soccer fans will be familiar with the process of playing another tournament during regular season play — and while this new tournament has none of the history of soccer’s great in-season cups, it’s a model that breaks up the NBA’s dreaded monotony of 82 games for the same goal.
Most American NBA fans aren’t soccer fans, though, and the NBA will have to sell this novelty to them. Announcing the group draw first, then the schedule is a smart way to separate out these games from the rest. If the league’s television partners (ESPN, TNT) get on board, and there are quality games to be seen, it’ll be a success.
Players ought to be excited about it too for one big reason: money. The team that wins the championship gets $500,000 per player, and the runner-up gets $200,000 per player. Reaching the semifinal game means $100,000 per player, and quarterfinal appearances mean $50,000 per player. While the best NBA players make many multiples of those figures, the ones at the end of the bench don’t — and the stars may not want to let them down. Furthermore, many NBA players are more frugal than you might think despite their millions, and an additional $50K to $500K will be meaningful to them.
And for the Jazz, it’s an opportunity to be seen by a wider audience. The team had just one nationally televised game all season long last year, and has two in the group stage alone. That, too, matters to many players.
Follow @andyblarsen