NBA May Change Schedule, Adopt In-Season Tournament in 2023

Dec 1, 2022 - 5:45 PM

The NBA is headed towards a new format for its regular season schedule and a potential In-Season Tournament as soon as 2023. Shams Charania of The Athletic tweeted the news yesterday, saying the league has informed its 30 franchises that changes are likely on the way.

NBA informed teams today that the 2023-24 season will start on Oct. 24, 2023, and conclude April 14, 2024.

Noteworthy: If/when In-Season Tournament is approved, initial schedule will have 80 games per team; remaining games scheduled after eight teams advance to knockout rounds.

Kyle Irving of Sporting News helped explain how an In-Season Tournament would work, citing Charania’s tweets for reference:

The NBA would play “Cup games” throughout November.

The eight teams with the best records in those games would advance to a single-elimination tournament in December. The other 22 teams would continue their regular seasons.

All In-Season Tournament games would count as part of the 82-game schedule. The two teams that reach the final will end up playing play one extra game during the regular season (83 total).

Irving also explained that prizes for the tournament have yet to be determined.

What do you think? Would you be excited to see an In-Season Tournament come to the NBA, or do you find it much ado about...not much? Share your thoughts in the comment section!