Cuban wants play-in games as NBA boss, club owners ponder return plan
NEW YORK: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wants an expanded playoff system when the NBA comes back from a coronavirus shutdown as club owners and commissioner Adam silver pondered return plans Friday.
Silver conducted a conference call with the league’s 30 team owners on Friday, the same day that survey results from a similar session with NBA general managers were detailed in multiple media reports.
“The only certainty I have is safety first. Then we can start drilling down on dates and places and teams,” Cuban told ESPN of what might happen when play resumes.
Most NBA general managers prefer to return from the coronavirus pandemic break with a traditional 16team playoffs, ESPN and The Athletic reported.
The survey showed 16 of 30 general managers backing a plan to go directly into the playoffs with 16 clubs, with 16 also supporting usual seedings by Eastern and Western conference over an overall league 1-16 seeding. Cuban disagreed, saying, “You don’t want to throw guys right into the heat of the playoffs.”
No timetable or return plan has been determined, with Silver listening to team owners, executives and the players union as well as looking at medical advancements and government stay-at-home rules dealing with Covid-19.
Cuban said he liked Silver’s method of gathering information, saying of his way with NBA owners: “He knows how to herd cats.”
The NBA reportedly plans to stage games without spectators in a madefor-television “bubble” atmosphere at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, to try and avoid spreading the deadly virus, which forced the league to shut down March 11 with just over a month remaining in the regular season.
Cuban wasn’t worried about developing a safety system that players could trust when it came to testing and quarantine situations. “Of course there’s going to be uncertainty,” Cuban said. “We just have to be transparent with everything.”
Among other comeback options, eight general managers wanted to return by concluding the regular season then having a play-in tournament to decide the last postseason berths, five more opted for a direct-to-playoff return with a groupstage World Cup format or a play-in tournament. Only one sought a 30team return to finish the season then hold playoffs.
When it came to playoff teams, 83 per cent backed 20 or more clubs in an expanded format. Most often mentioned is a system with the top eight in the Eastern and Western Conferences plus the ninth-12th teams in the West, all within reach of the final spot when the shutdown came.
“I don’t think it will be regular. This is our chance to experiment and learn,” Cuban said.
“As long as you give players something to play for, they’ll realize this is an opportunity,” he added. “I think expanding that opportunity would be good for the league and create excitement for the fans.”
Most general managers want to complete the season by Oct 1 with at least a couple months off before the start of a 2020-21 campaign in December.