By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
On July 9, the NBA officially announced the introduction of a new In-Season Tournament which will debut in the 2023-24 season. While a lot of people got annoyed by this new idea, Mark Cuban expressed his satisfaction.
“Initially I was out on it, but the more I found, there’s no downside. There’s absolutely no downside. My son Jake said “We’ve got a bad draw” and all that, but just the fact that he’s thinking about it gets the kids excited. It’s just a regular season game unless you win it, so why not?”, the Dallas Mavericks owner said on the SiriusXM NBA Radio with Frank Isola.
As NBA stated in the press release, the In-Season Tournament “will tip off on Friday, Nov. 3, and culminate with the Championship on Saturday, Dec. 9. The Semifinals (Thursday, Dec. 7) and Championship will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas” and it will consist of two stages: the Group Play and the Knockout Rounds.
The Dallas Mavericks got drawn with the reigning NBA champions of the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Houston Rockets in Western Conference’s Group B. “Eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds: the team with the best standing in Group Play games in each of the six groups and two “wild cards” (the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group). The Knockout Rounds will be single-elimination games in the Quarterfinals (played in NBA team markets on Monday, Dec. 4, and Tuesday, Dec. 5), Semifinals, and Championship. The qualifying teams will compete for a prize pool and the new In-Season Tournament trophy, the NBA Cup”, the press release continued.
Most importantly, the number of Regular Season games will remain untouched. “All 67 games across both stages of the In-Season Tournament will count toward the regular-season standings except the Championship. Each team will continue to play 82 regular-season games in the 2023-24 season, including those games that are part of Group Play and the Knockout Rounds”, the official statement also said.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
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