This year the NBA is bringing an In-Season tournament to engage fans early.
This year in the National Basketball League, Adam Silver the league’s commissioner, is making a twist into the new season. All 30 teams are going to be playing games to win a tournament and ultimately a grand prize of 500 thousand dollars. And the best thing about it, these games are going to count towards their 82 regular game schedule, and for each tournament game, there is a special design court that you play on.
From November 3 to 28, each team is going to play each other to the pool that they have been selected into from the drawing.
There are three different groupings with five teams from both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
East Group A: Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers.
East Group B: Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks.
East Group C: Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls.
West Group A: Portland TrailBlazers, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzles.
West Group B: Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers.
West Group C: San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder.
After each play one another, the record between these specific in-season tournament games will determine who qualifies for the next round. This round is called the knockout round.
In the knockout round, the eight best teams will qualify for this stage. Each team that is in first place from their respective pool will advance, plus one wildcard team. The team who finished with the second-best record in the group stage will be the wild card.
This knockout round of the in-season tournament will take place on December 4-5. Teams that win each game will keep playing until they reach their goal of raising the first “In-season” tournament trophy.
The Championship game is going to take place at a neutral site in Las Vegas Nevada, on Saturday, December 9th.
When the tournament is over the NBA is going to announce the MVP of the tournament along with an All-Tournament team.
This is going to bring extreme excitement into the NBA season. Although this is early into the new season, it should be interesting to see which team is going to win it all.