Playoff format change could be coming

The National Basteball Association is reportedly heavily considering the possibility of eliminating divisional champions being automatically granted a spot in the National Basteball Association playoffs, a move that would diminish the importance of divisions while signifying the power of conferences.

Being a division victor would not assure a team of a playoff spot.

In his short tenure as National Basteball Association Commissioner, Adam Silver has already proven that he is unafraid of change.

Currently, division winners are guaranteed no worse than a number-4 seed. They would have instead ended up with the sixth seed in the West based on their record. Now imagine that the team wins its division even though it didn’t have one of the top eight records in the conference.

“First of all, it’s never happened before that a division victor did not finish within the top eight, and our basketball analytics folks calculate that there’s less than a 5 percent chance that it would happen”, Silver said before taking part in a panel discussion at the “Beyond Sport United” program, the AP reported. In the first-round match-ups, the Blazers would have then played the LA Clippers, while the Spurs and Grizzlies would have faced off. Those match-ups could have shifted the entire Western Conference Playoffs.

Silver has approached every matter that has come across his desk with an open mind, so it is not shocking at all that he would at least entertain the notion of changing the current setup of the playoffs.

“So while we’re going to continue to discuss it a little bit more – we need to make a decision before the preseason begins – I think the greater likelihood is we will not be guaranteeing a spot to a division victor”, he said Wednesday.