Within the last 24 hours, Mavericks star Luka Doncic and team owner Mark Cuban have each criticized the concept of the NBA’s play-in tournament, as Tim MacMahon details in a pair of stories for ESPN.com.
Cuban is part of the NBA’s Board of Governors, which unanimously approved the proposal to implement a play-in tournament for the final two playoff spots in each conference. However, it sounds like the Mavericks owner is having second thoughts about the concept, calling it an “enormous mistake” to introduce the play-in games during a compressed season.
“The worst part of this approach is that it doubles the stress of the compressed schedule,” Cuban told ESPN. “Rather than playing for a playoff spot and being able to rest players as the standings become clearer, teams have to approach every game as a playoff game to either get into or stay in the top six since the consequences, as Luka said, are enormous. So players are playing more games and more minutes in fewer days.”
Cuban’s comments came the day after his franchise player offered his own criticism of the play-in idea.
“I don’t understand the idea of a play-in,” Doncic said on Monday. “You play 72 games to get into the playoffs, then maybe you lose two in a row and you’re out of the playoffs. So I don’t see the point of that.”
The play-in tournament will pit the seventh and eighth teams in each conference against one another, with the winner securing the No. 7 seed. The loser of that game will then face the winner of a game between the ninth and 10th seeds for the final playoff spot.
Cuban’s complaint about implementing the play-in tournament during a compressed schedule is valid, since teams are more concerned than ever about keeping players healthy while playing 72 games in 146 days (instead of the usual 82 in 177) following a shortened offseason.
Still, it’s hard to separate Cuban’s and Doncic’s critiques of the play-in tournament from Dallas’ place in the standings. The Mavericks currently have a 29-24 record, putting them seventh in the West and two games back of the sixth-seeded Trail Blazers. It’s perhaps no coincidence that Cuban offered an alternate solution that would allow the Mavs to avoid a play-in game.
“I get why the NBA is doing it,” Cuban said of the play-in tournament. “But if we are going to be creative because of COVID, we should go straight up 1-20 and let the bottom four (seeds) play in.”
If the league were to seed teams regardless of conference, allowing the top 12 to secure automatic postseason berths while the next eight participated in a play-in, the Mavs would be in better shape — they hold the NBA’s 10th-best record.
They are SHOOK about having to face Curry in full sicko mode! Hahahaa
No one is scared of the finals MVP virgin
He deserved it more than Iggy and you know it.
Curry had 1 bad game, and Iggy had 1 good game. NBA writers hate Steph for ruining Lebrons legacy, therefore they didnt vote him FMVP even though he obviously deserved it. He will win one anyway now, the writers cant hide anymore
LeBron ruined Stephs legacy in 2016 lmao. That series alone is worth more than any of the 3 Warriors got.
That’s the most preposterous thing, lebron won the rings he won and steph won the rings he won and they will be remembered for battling in the super team times, eventually it will change again, everything is cyclical, and 2 new players will be remembered for battling during the ________times. Neither of them ruined eachothers legacies, lebron was never goin to take MJs spot as the greatest ever to me, I don’t care if he won 10 straight titles he plays in the sensitive emo boy nba, see.
“Emo boy eea”. MJ played against plummers. MJ never went up against players of KD’s caliber. If Bron can win it this year he is just 1 ring behind MJ. Boomer will be sweating.
MJ played against plumbers—that’s laughable.
The thing with eras it’s a two way street. Ewing would be a dinosaur by today’s rules. But Durant would get bodied every other play by guys like Barkley and Anthony Mason.
You can get into the “But would Jordan learn how to shoot 3’s?” and “But Durant would put on 50 lbs of muscle!” But at that point it’s all fantasy.
lmao curry owned lebron for years.
Surprising that Cuban is against an idea that in theory makes throwaway regular season games more valuable. Hard not to agree it has to do with an underwhelming season from Dallas.
As for Luka: yeah. you could also play 82 games, lose 4 and you’re out. A little surprised to hear him complaining. Hope this is not a habit he picks up from his peers.
Hope this is not a habit he picks up from his peers? Have you seen him play? He is constantly complaining.
The snowflake generation…
I watch a ton of games and Luka complains more than any player in the league
They wouldn’t be whining if they were a 4 seed or better. They are PO’d that they could be eliminated from the playoffs after 1 or 2 games.
If anything it makes more sense to have it this year—doesn’t Cubes remember when Dallas had a range of injuries + contact tracing guys out and they started like 9-15?
Pretty sure the top 10 having a chance helped a team like Dallas morale-wise at least a little bit, knowing they were never truly out of a chance at the playoffs, even in the west.
To complain about now that you’re stuck at a 7 seed is funny though.
Hey Buttholesurfer69! We must be distance relatives because our usernames are so similar :)
Markos—is that you? How’re the wife and kids doing?
I mean, if his team was a solid 5 seed, I doubt he would be complaining.
All due respect, I like the guy, I think he’s terrific for the league, but his bias is showing.
Yeah how dare he show his for the team he owns.
What a surprise that Cuban thinks things should be different than what he said previously. First, when teams like the Sixers were tanking he made a big point about how wrong it is and how his team would never do that. Then, in the season before the Luka draft his team tanked and he made lame excuses.
Now he is a member of the group of owners who unanimously voted for the play in tournament. IIRC he was one of the owners last season who argued it was needed to make up missed games to hit the minimums necessary for national tv contracts. Now that he made that money and it is his team that is, as of now, slated to be in the tournament it is suddenly a bad thing.
I can’t take any stance he takes on anything serious at this point. I mean, sure this can be said for almost every GM or owner. If he wants to do this though don’t get on your high horse and make a big statement about how much you are for something only to reverse when it affects you.
Mark “I wouldn’t be a billionaire today if I…” Cuban
The nba playoffs have way too many teams as it is, should be cut to the top 4 records in each conference
I would say teams with winning records are in and teams are seeded without respect to conference. If an odd number of teams have winning records then the last two teams in have a play in game. If season stopped today, the PO series would be:
NY-UT
MEM-PHX
CHA-PHI
BOS-BRK
MIA-LAC
ATL-DEN
DAL-MIL
POR-LAL
2nd Rd with no upsets:
LAL-UT
MIL-PHX
DEN-PHI
LAC-BRK
Big Cuban fan but odd timing to make such a revelation
Was against the play in in the beginning but I see the merits it provides thruout the year….less tanking, more meaningful games, extra boast of excitement for a half week before the real tourney kicks off
These rules have been in place before the season started, judgements should have been professed then not now by the critics
The playing game should only be for the eighth seed Only if the ninth seed is at most two games behind the eighth seed.
I mean imagine if the game differential between the eighth and ninth seat is over five games and you lose at home.
It’s disrespectful to all the guys on the eighth seed team who put in that hard work to lose to a team that couldn’t even come close to the eighth Seed.
I don’t understand Luka’s point here:
“You play 72 games to get into the playoffs, then maybe you lose two in a row and you’re out of the playoffs. So I don’t see the point of that.”
In a ‘regular’ NBA season they play even more games (82) but if you lose three in a row in the first round, you’re basically out. Not much of a difference, right? Unless he wants the play-in to be best of five?
The only major gripe I see is 7 playing 8 to start. Why not 7 playing 10 and 8 playing 9? That part seems asinine and like it gives the 9 seed a bigger advantage than the 7 and 8 seeds for some reason. Just make it a best of three between 7 and 10 and between 8 and 9. It’s needlessly complicated right now.
7 playing 8 gives those 2 teams 1 free loss and a chance for 1 of them to be 1 and advance-
Think system is better as is really than your simpler version but I see how ya got there
Yeah, I don’t know, maybe I’m not fully understanding it. I don’t like it to begin with and think it should just be 1-8 making the playoffs like it has been in the past. That’s already a ton of teams.
The No. 9 seed still has to win twice to make it in, while the No. 8 seed just needs one win.
Luke, statistically where do the ‘play in’ games stand?
As of now the play in tournament did not exist last year (statistically or historically), so in 10 years time after 10 years of play in tournaments maybe some epic games or upsets, who knows, will these game ever be tracked? From a statistical point and from a team history point of view, i.e. the number 10 seed making a Conference Final run or something?
We’ll have to see if it’s something that becomes more permanent beyond this season — if so, my guess is that the stats accumulated in those games will technically be counted as “playoff” stats, even if they aren’t considered real playoff games by fans.
Here’s a scenario:
-the 8 seed loses to the 7.
-the 9 defeats the 10.
-the 8 seed loses to the 9.
In this scenario, 7 and 9 make the playoffs.
8 and 9 both had to play two games.
8 played 7 and 9.
9 played 8 and 10.
Who had the easier path? The answer to me is 9, and that doesn’t seem right.
The real answer is 8 had a (much) easier path. Their path required 1 win in 2 games, vs 2 wins in 2 games.
8 would also get to play the 8/9 game at home.
I guess it somewhat depends on the teams involved. Like if Luka goes down for 3 weeks and DAL falls to 9, then if 7 loses to 8 then they have to play Dallas, which is the best of the 4 teams from 7-10 rn. (And then Cuban and Luka like the play-in again, of course)
But that notwithstanding, I agree in having 7 play 10 and 8 play 9— 10 and 9 need two wins straight against 7 and 8 respectively. 7 and 8 need one win to clinch.
That would give the 7/8 seeds more of an advantage, which tbh they probably deserve.
But my guess is the point of the play-in is producing more of a ratings drive. wild west “anything can happen” scenario than anything else. So maybe that’s why they have it as is.
Bunch of whiners. Who cares what Cuban thinks. Just sign the checks lol. No one is complaining except those who got no chance of winning. Mavs are not getting out the first rd. I doubt they win the play in gm. Mavs imo are a put together wrong. This is not a team built to win. Luka just might walk.
They added much needed defense and toughness in the offseason, and then didnt play those guys, and then traded them for more offense, so that’s kind of confusing, although admittedly they dod lose a lot of their catch and shoot strength from last year, losing Curry, so I can see where Reddick could make some sense. He just isnt the defender Curry is, and I think their issues have been more defensively than anything, and that offense was something they could make up in other areas
Yeah I thought James Johnson was going to be a much better fit than he ended up being. IDK what happened there.
I still think they’re dangerous just bc Luka is a top 5 offensive player and in theory they could get an optimal version of KP in a given series
I’d like to see them shake things up this offseason tho, especially with their available cap space
Not enough balance in their rotation, and didnt use their rookie wings enough. Wes Iwundu could have been useful as well. I also think they were too committed to playing bigs, and we never saw lineups with JJ at the 5, which could have been interesting
They need defense at the guard spot, and a catch and shoot 3 point shooter to play with Luka. They could also use someone with a similar skillset as James Johnson at the 4, but I’m curious to see how Tyler Bey looks next year.
Said this last year when it was talked about. Its incredibly stupid
Of course the Mavs are complaining, they’re the #7 seed which benefits the least from the play-in. If they were 1-6, they wouldn’t mind and if they were 9 or 10 they’d be praising the idea.
Doesn’t make sense? LOL. Using Cuban’s logic, the NBA’s 16 team playoff format makes even less sense. There’s never been a basketball reason to include that many teams, and it’s been pretty much for show (it’s been around over 30 years, and only 1 team seeded lower than 4th has ever won the trophy). It’s there for TV $$. Only. Which, incidentally, is why the play in has been introduced.
Cuban, if he wants anyone to listen to him (that he’s not paying), should apply his logic and concern to the entire playoff system, and lobby for only 4 teams per conference in the playoffs.
Its a bad idea, the thing I love about a 7 game series is the intensity of the competition by game 3 and 4 everyone is getting chippy and is sick of the other team. But without question the best team ends up winning, its not a one off situation. No one wants to see anymore from the 9th and 10th teams in the conference usually.
I do like changing the setup for each round to favor the higher seed, and calling some games “play-ins”, with varied rules, could be a stalking-horse for that… like, rn, 7vs8 has a different standard than 9vs10 or the other regular rounds.
Perhaps one win could be spotted to the higher seed in round 1. That would give incentive for a team to move up the ladder. Also #1 & #2 seeds would get a bye, however the math works out… Right now seeds #1 to #6 basically get a bye.
Seeds after #4 rarely wins the title anyway and does not really deserve to.
Now that Silver broken the mold and put more teams in, make the brackets rigorously fair and varied. (And add two expansion teams!) Or just go back to top 16 & forget play-ins… too weird by themselves.
Cuban’s comment is just self-interest as Luke indicated… he picked up the argument against it, that the play-in setup will cause more wear & tear injuries. Doncic’s comment may not make sense as stated in English oh well.
Yeah as you and DXC both noted it seems like you could reasonably do some kind of play in for any team beyond the 4 seed, given the title expectations of any given year.
You could have an 8 team mini tournament for seeds 5-12 in each conference, based on some variation of what they have for 7-10—then maybe go back to a 5 game first round to compensate for the extra games.
Where it gets tricky to me is—even though we know in a 7 game series there are really only a handful of actual contenders each year—the playoffs are still hugely entertaining (and lucrative). At least to me.
So IDK how much they would want to tweak the current format more than they already if it risks messing up the bread and butter that is the actual playoffs.