The NBA has apparently reached an agreement with the players’ union to hold the play-in tournament in the coming season. In the 2021/22 season, the format should be exactly the same as in the previous season.
That goes from a report by Adrian Wojnarowski (ESPN). Accordingly, only the official voting of the Board of Governors is still pending. But this is only a formality.
In 2020, a play-in-game was experimented for the first time in the Bubble in Orlando, and this concept was expanded to the 2020/21 season. The first eight teams from each conference are no longer automatically qualified for the playoffs as they were in the past.
Instead, the seventh-placed against the eighth-placed fights in a single game for the 7-seed. At the same time, the ninth and tenth places in each conference compete against each other. The winner meets the loser from the 7/8 matchup and fights for the last remaining playoff place.
The play-in tournament was well received by a large number of fans, even if there was criticism from individual star players such as LeBron James or Luka Doncic. But the ratings were apparently also satisfactory – certainly also because the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors were represented in the games. LA ultimately secured the 7-seed, the Warriors had to admit defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies in the battle for 8th place.
“Personally, I have a great appetite for innovation,” said Commissioner Adam Silver recently, “perhaps more than some of the teams or the players. There was some resistance to the play-in tournament at the beginning. But I hope it is a new element of our game and that we continue with it. “
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