NBA Announces Exciting In-Season Tournament to Add Thrills and Intensity
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00:00 Okay, so I am fascinated by this in season tournament that the NBA has announced.
00:05 I know the old school head in me is like, this is not gonna work.
00:09 Why are they doing this?
00:10 But as it sort of got developed here, Gilbert, and
00:12 I'm seeing the amount of games that the teams are playing.
00:15 I mean, there's not gonna be a huge effect, I don't think, on the league.
00:19 But what do you make of this announcement yesterday and
00:21 how do you think things are set up for it?
00:23 >> I think fascinating is a great word to describe this.
00:27 I'm fascinated.
00:28 I'm very intrigued by what it's going to be.
00:30 I think in theory, it maybe breaks away from what we're traditionally used to.
00:34 But like you said, when you think about it,
00:36 it really doesn't deviate that much from what we've known.
00:39 The teams that play in the championship are the only teams that are going to play
00:42 an extra game.
00:43 And honestly, it can add some more excitement to the season.
00:46 Now there are designated tournament games on Tuesdays and
00:49 Fridays throughout the first full month of the season.
00:51 And I know there's a contingent of NBA fans that bemoan the lack of effort or
00:56 whatever you have in the early stages of the season.
00:59 So maybe it adds a different level of intensity for
01:01 these tournament nights in the early part of the season.
01:04 And then once you get to that knockout stage in the championship stage,
01:09 these teams are incentivized financially to get far.
01:12 The teams that are playing the quarterfinals and the semifinals and
01:14 the champion gets $500,000 per player.
01:17 So maybe that adds a level of intensity.
01:19 And I think when you talk about that championship game, as basketball fans,
01:23 we're gifted one more game early season matchup between two elite teams.
01:28 And it comes on December 9th,
01:29 which is the time where college football conference championships will be over.
01:33 And there's not gonna be that much on television for sports fans to watch.
01:36 So you can all tune in to that as well.
01:38 So I think it's an intriguing idea.
01:40 It takes a page from International Sports League.
01:42 So I think it has the international fan in mind as well.
01:45 So I'm going into it with an open mind,
01:47 similar to how I did with the play in tournament a few years ago.
01:50 And we'll see how it plays out.
01:51 but there's certainly potential for it to be something special.