Mark Cuban Wants A Play-In Tournament For The NBA Playoffs When Season Resumes

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has his own ideas for how the NBA should finish the remainder of its season. As the league zeroes in on holding games at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, he made his suggestions to the league office recently, ESPN reports.

Cuban thinks that all 30 NBA teams should travel to Orlando to play a portion—five to seven games—of what’s left of the regular-season. This, he says, is primarily to fulfill the league’s contractual obligations to the regional sports networks (RSNs), which air most of the NBA’s games.

The NBA keeps 100% of the revenue generated from its contracts with RSNs once those affiliates air 70 or so games. Fox Sports Southwest, which carries Mavericks games, was scheduled to broadcast 76 games this season. The league will have to refund the RSNs for lost games if the threshold isn’t met.

After finishing the regular-season, Cuban proposes that the top 10 teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs. Teams would then be reseeded based on record, without regard for conference. The bottom six teams would then participate in a play-in tournament to determine the last two playoff spots.

Seed No. 17 would play No. 20 and No. 18 would face No. 19 in either a single-elimination game or best-of-three series. Winners would advance to play seeds 15 and 16 for the final two playoff spots.

All but two teams—the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves—would have a realistic chance at making the play-in tournament in this format, Cuban says.

“It’s fair. It’s entertaining,” Cuban told ESPN.

Not everyone agrees, necessarily. As currently structured, Cuban’s proposal saves his team from having to take part in the preliminary playoff tournament.

“LOL on the play-in tournament that manages to preserve Dallas a guaranteed playoff spot, but the rest is highly plausible,” former Memphis Grizzlies Vice President of Basketball Operations John Hollinger tweeted.

The Mavericks currently sit in seventh in the Western Conference with a record of 40-27. They have a seven-game advantage over the eighth-place Grizzlies. Other ideas being floated for a play-in tournament include the bottom eight teams, rather than Cuban’s six.

Still, Cuban’s idea is just one of many the league must assess as it moves forward with preliminary plans to restart its season. Figuring out how many games to play and what playoff formatting will look like are just some of the many challenges facing the NBA.