NBA in-season tourney ‘whole different dynamic,’ says Tatum

MANILA, Philippines – With the staging of the inaugural in-season tournament in the 2023-2024 season, the NBA looks to add color to what’s usually a monotonous start to an 82-game campaign.

Likely the highlight of the latest collective bargaining agreement ratified between the NBA and its players on Thursday, April 27 (Manila time), this new league concept draws inspiration from various tournaments across different sports around the globe.

As it stands, the tournament is designed to make teams interested right away to start the season, usually tipping off in mid-October. 

Many have pointed out that teams only start to play harder by Christmas Day, a marquee matchup day on national television, which they dub the “real start” of the season.

The in-season tournament will not bring a championship to the teams, winning the Larry O’Brien trophy remains the sole path to obtaining a ring.

However, according to multiple reports, the league is ready to award an additional $500,000 to each member of the winning team.

According to NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, the league is not aiming to add more games, but to raise the stakes.

“[L]et’s designate those as these in-season tournament games, create a competition within the competition so that those regular season games become more meaningful,” Tatum told a panel of Manila-based reporters at the NBA Philippines office in Taguig.

“And then let’s create… [an in-season format] final with a single-game elimination, which creates a whole different dynamic in the NBA because then, it’s not a best-of-seven series, but it’s one game and it brings more unpredictability to it,” he added.

Familiar concept

The pageantry of the NBA All-Star Weekend and the excitement of a Game 7 are some of the things the league hopes to replicate in the in-season tourney.

All teams are expected to play, reportedly sporting different uniforms to give the games a more distinctive feel.

Following the quick elimination phase of the tournament, a knockout round will occur, which will lead to a group phase.

The group phase will see remaining teams battle it out with each other, with the four best teams playing in the knockout semifinals and finals.

According to Tatum, the concept is something familiar with players, who are used to playing in small basketball tournaments during their youth.

Foreign-based players are also familiar with it as they see their favorite football teams also go through something similar.

“It’s a long regular season and a long postseason, which is exciting. But at the end of that, there is one champion, right?” said Tatum. 

“We, being a global league, have the opportunity to study and look at and examine how other leagues operate.” 

“What we realize is that in global football and global basketball, you have these cups and you have these tournaments, and you have these seasons within seasons where there’s always something to play for,” he said.

Philippines an important partner

Tatum, who visited Manila with NBA Asia managing director Ramez Sheikh, said Filipinos remain one of the most important markets for the league.

The NBA remains the most popular sports brand in the Philippines – world-famous for its devotion to basketball – with 98% awareness from the general population, and made more evident in its social media presence.

More than 8.7 million Filipinos follow the NBA’s global Facebook page, the most of any country outside the United States, and the largest regional NBA Facebook page with more than 5.7 million followers.

Outside of China, which has over 1.4 billion in population, the Philippines drew the second-largest average audience for the 2022-2023 regular season, a 12% increase year-on-year through April 2, 2023.

More than 40 local and global partnerships have also been forged with various brands ranging from food to online wallet services.

Television broadcasts remain a staple, with games being broadcast four times a week, and the rest of the games being shown over the NBA League Pass service, where every game is available.

Its official merchandise site had also delivered to 215 out of 228 cities in the country, with a 500-square meter store set to open at the Mall of Asia in the first week of May.

The perpetual question 

The biggest question with regards to the NBA from Filipinos remain the same over the past decades – when are we going to produce a homegrown Filipino player?

Jordan Clarkson is Filipino, but he’s naturalized, per FIBA. Fil-Am coach Erik Spoelstra remains a steady presence in Miami, recently steering the No. 8 Heat to a series upset over the top-ranked Milwaukee Bucks.

For Tatum, it’s a matter of identifying the right talent and leading him to the best pathway possible.

There have been close calls in the past, particularly with 1996 PBA MVP Johnny Abarrientos, and currently, Kai Sotto, but Tatum remains upbeat that it will be inevitable that the country will have its first homegrown NBA player.

“Remember, the NBA has 450 people, basketball players, in the world. Right? It is probably one of the most competitive leagues in the world because there’s only 450 places of the billions of people around the world who play basketball,” he said.

“I do think the talent is here. The passion for the game is here. The infrastructure is here,” Tatum added.

“I think it’s probably just a matter of identifying that talent early and then putting them in competitive situations, maybe outside the Philippines, quite frankly, early, so they can develop and play against the best competition in the world, because there’s no doubt that here you’re playing against the best in the country.” – Rappler.com