The NBA is talking about tweaking the playoffs. Currently, 8 teams make the playoffs. The top 4 seeds are the three division winners plus the team with the best record after that. A division winner may not get home court advantage depending on their record. If a team wins a division but their opponent for the first-round has a better record, their rival receives home court advantage. Now the NBA is looking into changing the format so a division winner is not guaranteed a playoff spot.
The NBA and MLB are the only sports not to award a home playoff series to the divisions winners depending on the record. In the NHL finishing first in the division assures that team has home ice in the first and second-rounds. A division winner, no matter the record, has at least one home playoff game in the NFL.
According to ESPN, Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, acknowledged that it has never happened that a division winner didn’t have a top 8 record. He also said, “Where we are leaning right now is that we would not guarantee a spot for a division winner in part because it’s so unlikely to happen, and No. 2 if it does happen it would be potentially confusing to fans. No. 3, you would be displacing a team that did have a top-eight record.”
This makes no sense. Most NBA basketball teams first goal is to win a division. That way they know they will be in the NBA playoffs. During an NBA season, there are 16 games played within the division or 19.5% of an NBA schedule. These games could decide who makes the playoffs. What Silver is suggesting is that division games could mean nothing in an NBA season. Then the question becomes why have divisions? If divisions don’t mean anything in the NBA, the only way to adjust the playoffs is to not have divisions at all. Take the 15 teams from both conferences and seed them according to record. That would solve the problem. The NBA would have the best 8 teams from both conferences in the playoffs.
According to ESPN, Silver knows the NBA will need to talk about it more saying, “So while we’re going to continue to discuss it a little bit more — we need to make a decision before the preseason begins — I think the greater likelihood is we will not be guaranteeing a spot to a division winner.” Changes in the NBA playoffs are coming. The question is when.
How should the NBA change the format to the NBA playoffs?
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