Getty Kevin Durant spoke out about the NBA In-Season Tournament.
For the most part, the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament has been a resounding success. Players are giving more effort than they normally would during November regular season games because there’s extra financial incentive – and a new championship – on the line. Plus, fans get to watch more competitive NBA basketball… even if the basketball is being played on very bright (and sometimes defective) courts.
And while the majority of players seem happy with the NBA’s newest product, some believe that, at the end of the day, the NBA is an entertainment league – hence, the creation of the In-Season Tournament was for the sake of the fans, rather than the players.
Suns superstar Kevin Durant is one of those players. He sounded off on the IST on November 30th, saying to reporters, “I think that’s really why we got the In-Season Tournament, to please the fans. They weren’t satisfied with the level of ball we were playing in the regular season,” Durant said. “So, hopefully they get excited, I think every game in the In-Season Tournament, along with courts and jerseys and stuff, I mean, just giving the consumer a different vibe when they turn on the TV or come to a game.”
Kevin Durant on the In-Season Tournament: “It’s not really how we feel. It’s really about how the consumer feels about what they see and, you know, hopefully they enjoy it.”
“It’s not really how we feel, it’s really about how the consumer feels about what they see, and hopefully they enjoy it,” Durant continued.
In recent years, fans have maligned the NBA for not doing enough to maximize the effort of players throughout the regular season. This year, the league tried to fix that problem with the addition of the In-Season Tournament, and a new rule that requires players to participate in at least 65 games to qualify for awards. So far, both appear to be successes.
Suns Sneak Into Quarterfinals
The NBA split its 30 teams into six groups for the group stage of the In-Season Tournament. To quality for the quarterfinals, a team had to either win its group or qualify as its conference’s “wild card.” Phoenix did the latter; Los Angeles won the group, but the Suns snuck into the quarterfinals thanks to a 3-1 group stage record and a better point differential than Minnesota, which also went 3-1 and finished second in its group.
In their first IST matchup on November 10th, the Suns and Lakers played one of the best NBA games of the season. LA pulled out a 122-119 win, and now Phoenix will get a chance to avenge that loss in a game with even higher stakes on December 5th.
Added Incentive
Another reason for players to be happy with the In-Season Tournament? A nice holiday bonus if they make a deep run. Every player on the IST championship team wins $500,000. The players on the second-place team win $200,000. If a team reaches the semifinals, each player receives $100,000, and every player on the eight teams in the quarterfinals receives $50,000.
Lakers superstar LeBron James commented on the financial incentive the In-Season Tournament provides, saying “It’s not something we’re putting all our eggs in one basket in the in-season tournament. But we know when the games come, every Tuesday and Friday, we know what it’s about, we know what’s at stake. So, it’s been good for us so far.”