Adam Silver Floats Potential Draft Rewards For NBA Tournament

NBA commissioner Adam Silver continues to try and get his midseason knockout tournament idea off the ground.

The tournament looked destined to never materialize following media discourse throughout last week. Houston Rockets star James Harden blithely replied ‘are we in college?’ when he was asked about the idea.

As well as that, valid doubts remain over whether such a knockout tournament could be sold to American consumers. It’s a common part of European sport, but alien to U.S audiences and players alike.

If Adam Silver can’t get the fans or the players on his side, he can try to get the team owners on his side. That’s exactly what Adam Silver has done, with the emergence of new details about his proposal.

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Via the New York Times’ Mark Stein, the winner of an NBA knockout tournament will be awarded an extra draft pick.

Stein Tweeted further details of the mooted tournament:

“All elements of the NBA’s potential midseason tournament remain in the discussion phase, but one idea proposed to incentivize teams to embrace the new competition is furnishing the tournament winner with an extra draft pick, league sources say.

“Any such measure would have to be ratified by league vote, but the league’s search is on for ways — on top of bonus compensation for players and coaches who do well in the tournament — to make teams eager to participate. A first-round pick would certainly help.”

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An extra draft pick would certainly incentivize teams to take part in, and succeed in the tournament. However, it’s counterproductive to the way the draft works, considering one of the top teams will likely win it. This would give an extra advantage to the top seeds in the league, barring an incredible underdog story.