The NBA Is Reportedly Thinking Of Canceling The Rest Of The Regular Season And Playing A Tournament In Vegas Instead

[Source] - But if the NBA does return, team executives told CNBC they favored Las Vegas as a possible location to conclude the season. And media experts agreed, adding the decision could help the NBA retain some of its revenue domestically and perhaps in China.

The NBA could decide to cancel the remainder of its regular season and create a play-in tournament for lower-seeded teams to enter the postseason. The league could then set up a best-of-five series for the first round, before moving to a one-and-done tournament to determine the two teams that will play in the NBA Finals, which would also be a best-of-five, people familiar with the planning said.

You know what? Fuck it, that would be awesome. This year is already weird enough let's just try something different. Why not? You have the excuse of it just being a trial because of the coronavirus. I actually like the idea of shortening the series, giving the higher seeds a bye essentially and having the lower seed play a tournament to make the playoffs.

Here's what I want though. Change how the first round is best-of-five for the first round. I get that you want the better teams to have an advantage in case they lose game 1. Move it to best of 3. That gives the better team the advantage still to just have to win two. Have the tournament be one-and-done to set up the playoffs. First round best of 3, second round best of 3, conference finals best of 5, NBA Finals best of 5. Play it all in Vegas too. That'd be awesome. 

We didn't get the NCAA Tournament this year and this would be the closest thing. Play the one-and-done part during the day too. Make it an all day thing like the Thursday/Friday of the NCAA Tournament. Play the Eastern Conference on Thursday, Western Conference on Friday. 

NBA players are even intrigued by it: 

“It depends on how the tournament is structured,” he said. “I can’t say I would be happy with it or that I think it’s the right thing. I’d have to see how it’s structured. I think logistically, the NBA is in a position to experiment with many potential solutions.”

Start putting out some ideas, get some feedback and keep adjusting. Listen, Adam, I got some time on my hands now since I can't leave my house. I fucking love brackets and will help make them. But you're out of your mind if you aren't interested in a one-and-done tournament with a shortened series to get a champion and keep moving on.