The NBA In-Season Tournament

The NBA in-season tournament created a lot of buzz during the off-season. Players were on the fence about whether or not they were looking forward to playing in it. There was a lot of negative energy looming around the tournament.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams said “It’s so early in the year, it just feels like another game… I guess we’ll see once we get into the arena what it’ll feel like.” Memphis Grizzlies Point Guard Marcus Smart said “Being completely honest, nobody cares about [winning in-season tournament], it’s the big one that we care about. I have mixed feelings on it, but it’s great to be able to play more basketball, and I think that’s more of it, just those more games for the fans.”

Although opinions about the in-season tournament were mixed, I think it's fair to say that the

tournament was a huge success. Multiple games felt like playoff games. The in-season tournament resembled NCAA March madness in the sense that there were plenty of upsets. Teams that are the favorites to win the championship were eliminated a lot earlier than fans would assumed.

One of the best games we got during the tournament was Suns vs Lakers. The Suns and Lakers are both deemed contenders by NBA analysts and this game was almost like a preview of a potential playoff series. Kevin Durant and Lebron James combined for 62 points. This game ended with a very controversial call. At the end of the game down 2 points, the Phoenix Suns trapped Austin Reaves on the baseline and stole the ball from him leading to an open layup. However, the referees stopped the game and said that the Lakers called a timeout before the

turnover. This was a huge controversy and was discussed on almost every big sports platform.

The championship game was played by the experienced Los Angeles Lakers vs the young and

exciting Indiana Pacers. The game was played in Las Vegas giving nobody a home-court advantage. The game was said to have had over 2.3 million viewers which is huge for a non playoff game.

Overall, the NBA got positive reviews about the in-season tournament. It now seems as though

the players themselves will start to take the tournament seriously moving forward, and if the players take it seriously that means the fans will as well.