A return to the NBA’s Summer League home appears to be an increasingly popular idea as we enter the fourth week of the COVID-19 suspension, according to Sports Illustrated‘s Chris Mannix. The entire postseason could take place in Las Vegas, creating a sort of mass quarantine as 16 teams battle for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The idea may seem outlandish, but in a crisis, the NBA has no choice but to get creative.
Ummm yes please?? In a world were Big Cat’s “Cat Cave Derby” is the closest thing we have to live sports, I am dying for the NBA to return. And if the idea of every team playing in one location sounds ridiculous to you, I’m assuming you don’t watch college sports? NCAA basketball conference tournaments and the College World Series are held in one location and no one complains about that do they?
We’re already living in unchartered territory, so why not make things even weirder and host the entire playoffs in Vegas. No one will have home court advantage, so that’s one issue that’ll be automatically eliminated. Plus, if your concern is the health of the players, isolating everyone in a single location is the best thing to avoid “contamination”.
However, the most interesting part of this article is towards the end:
There could also be format changes to the playoffs along with an altered location, per CNBC’s Jabari Young. The first round and the NBA Finals could be best-of-five series’, and the middle two rounds could become a single-game elimination matchup.
Now THAT is a change I was not expecting. Do I think this format actually gets utilized in the playoffs? No. Do I think there’s a sliver of a chance it does because the world is already losing its mind? Yes. I don’t understand why you’d play two single-elimination games after a best-of-five series. I think if their goal is to shorten the playoffs, a best-of-three, best-of-three, best-of-five, best-of-five format is the shortest you can go. Unless they would consider a March Madness-esque single-elimination tournament. However, that format would taint the eventual champion’s title forever because no other season has been decided that way. That’s why I think the only format that wouldn’t forever taint the season would be the 3, 3, 5, 5 format.
Regardless of what the NBA decides, I’d like basketball back as soon as the public health concern is at a manageable level. Ticket sales would obviously be nonexistent, but at least they’d be able to charge for advertising and give the country something to get behind. I think we need it more than ever right now.