National Basketball Association

Why NBA in-season tournament should adhere closer to international soccer

Published Nov. 29, 2023 2:17 p.m. ET

Strange … very strange.

There really is no other way to describe Tuesday night’s place in the extremely short history of the NBA’s in-season tournament. The evening offered a good dose of the intended excitement yet also with a heavy helping of any competition’s death knell – confusion.

Billed as American basketball’s version of European soccer’s long-lasting and storied Cup events – with a twist – what we’ve really learned in Year 1 is that there’s a pretty simple way to fix the growing pains.

Lose the "twist."

Tuesday became a complicated mess because the NBA didn’t quite go all-in on commissioner Adam Silver’s new project. The trophy is called the NBA Cup, but this is not a "Cup" event in the truest sense. Instead, it is being set up as six round-robin groups of five teams, which led, predictably, to prevailing chaos.

The New York Knicks advanced to next week’s quarterfinal stage despite finishing second in their group, thanks to a convoluted point-differential system that did no one much good.

"I don't really like it," Knicks guard Josh Hart told reporters after his team ran up the score to beat the Charlotte Hornets, 115-91, and ensured they earned a spot in the quarterfinals. "We were focused - at first - just about winning. The last couple of minutes (was) weird. At a certain point, you just start chasing points, doing all that. So, it kind of messes with the integrity of the game."

The Boston Celtics needed a big win against the Chicago Bulls to advance and got it, but not without some recrimination. Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla left his starters in despite the game being out of reach for Chicago. Taking it one step further, they repeatedly fouled poor free-throw shooter Andre Drummond despite leading by more than 30, prompting an angry response from Bulls head coach Billy Donovan.

Boston ended up thrashing the lowly Bulls, 124-97, but Celtics star Jrue Holiday wasn’t entirely comfortable with how things went down.

"Running up the score, it just feels weird, like you’re disrespecting the game and your opponent," Holiday told reporters. "I don’t necessarily care for it, but I understand it."

"This is from the league," Donovan fumed. "This is what the league has done, making this point-differential thing."

Perhaps an even more worrisome issue arose on the West Coast. Sacramento Kings players, who were trailing by 17 at the half, were informed by their coaching staff that provided they did not lose to the Golden State Warriors by 12 points or more, they would go through to the quarterfinals. In the end, that became irrelevant as they came back to win by a point in an absolutely wild finish. Still, there is a bit of an ick factor when a team can win … by not winning.

The way to fix this is by turning creative borrowing from the European soccer concept into flat-out plagiarism of it.

Single elimination. Do-or-die, every time.

England’s FA Cup doesn’t have a group stage. Neither does Spain’s Copa del Rey, or Italy’s Coppa Italia, or Germany’s DFB Pokal. Only the World Cup does, but that’s different.

A straight knockout doesn’t necessarily work best if the stated purpose is to try to find the ultimate champion and the undisputed best team. But in soccer’s case, that’s what league championships such as the English Premier League are for. In the NBA’s case, that’s what the regular season and playoffs are for.

The NBA Cup is intended to be an extra prize, a bonus competition. That’s how it works in European soccer. No one is claiming that winning the Cup makes them categorically the best, but the accolade remains sweet and worthy nonetheless.

A single-elimination format would mean fewer games, which, in the modern sports business, usually means a less valuable media product. Would abandoning the groups for a preliminary round, effectively swapping out 60 games of vague importance for 16 where everything was on the line and elimination was a constant threat, be so damaging?

Moreover, a bracket from the beginning would bring clarity, not to mention the possibility of all those office pools a la March Madness. One viable potential format could see games played across four days in the first week, with the same again (two per night) for the round of 16. Leaving things where they currently are from the quarters onward, and culminating with the latter stages in Las Vegas, would be perfectly fine.

[2023 NBA In-Season Tournament odds tracker: Celtics favored entering knockout round]

Now, we are aware that 30 isn’t a perfect number for a bracket, meaning that either two byes (the previous season’s Cup finalists, maybe) could be awarded, or even have the field filled to 32 by a G League champion or an international representative, either a national or club team.

Whatever the solution, just get rid of the groups. Keep all the funky court designs. Keep it so that the games still count in the standings if you must. Just make it matter.

The basic premise of opportunity in Cup competitions, as European soccer has shown us forever, is beautifully simple. You get a chance to play, at least once. That’s it.

You might know in advance when you’ll be playing, but until the draw is made you don’t know against whom, or where. You don’t have to worry about things like point differential and there are no second chances.

But you know this – if you keep winning you get to keep going. Win often enough, and you win it all.

A couple of tweaks to what is actually a worthy idea but has had a rough start, and the NBA could be on to a winner itself.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.

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