LAS VEGAS — The NBA is hoping for buy-in for its newest and arguably most ambitious endeavor, the in-season tournament slated to begin next season.
Buy-in from the players, coaches and fans — all hoping they’ll care. The risk is the reverse happening, that by implementing pool play similar to a soccer format which will culminate in a championship on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas, a message will be sent that the league itself doesn’t care about early-season basketball.
Traditionalists will cringe at the 82-game season being slightly disrupted, but it feels like the constant player movement has ripped just a tad at that traditional fabric.