One of the ideas for playoff reform in the NBA that has popped up lately is the idea of a play-in tournament featuring some teams on the outside looking in. It’s not an idea that seems like it’s going to be implemented tomorrow or anything, but as ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote, it’s an idea that has caught Adam Silver’s eye in recent months.
It’s an idea that might be good for ticket sales and to make the spots below the 8-seed matter more in the postseason race. It is also a bad idea if you are LeBron James, who was asked about the concept of a pre-postseason tournament during the Cavaliers’ practice on Wednesday and shot the idea down.
James straight up laughed at the notion that doing something like this would be a good idea before going on to break down exactly what he disliked about the concept.
"That's corny. That's wack."
Safe to say LeBron wouldn't be a fan of an NBA playoff play-in tournament. (via @Cavs) pic.twitter.com/35Q0rKdBNq
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) March 21, 2018
“That’s wack,” James said. “Why? You gotta earn your spot to be in the postseason. No consolation for finishing last, that’s corny. That’s corny. That’s wack.”
After getting the idea explained to him a little bit more — teams 7-10 in each conference participate in a tournament — James reiterated how much he disliked the idea, saying “Even if my record is better than yours? Nah, that’s wack.”
The idea for this tournament has been floating around on the internet for some time, chiefly because Bill Simmons would frequently mention it during his tenure at ESPN. Who knows if this will ever become a legitimate idea that the league actually works to implement, but if it does, we can safely assume that James is going to fight against it happening.
