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NBA: The play-in tournament is back, but is it a good thing?

By Lachlan Everett

May 19, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) deflects an inbounds pass meant for Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) with 2 seconds left in the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
May 19, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) deflects an inbounds pass meant for Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) with 2 seconds left in the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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NBA Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images
NBA Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images /

The NBA’s experimental play-in tournament is coming back in the 2021-2022 NBA season according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and it’s with good reason.

The play-in originated in the NBA Bubble where the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers played a two-game series to determine the 8th seed (the higher seed has to win one game, the lower seed has to win two).

The consensus was that it was fun, new, and added a new wrinkle; allowing a ninth seed that could be a hair out of the eighth seed playoffs a chance to prove they were the better team. However, it was only one game, in one conference.

In the 2020-2021 season, the NBA brought the play-in back after its successful trial with two aspects being added: the play-in would consist of the 10th, 9th, 8th and 7th seeds in both conferences.

The NBA’s play-in tournament is here to stay

There are three key reasons why the play-in was successful, and why the NBA wants to keep the tournament going: high TV ratings, increasing fan interest, and reducing the amount teams tanking in the last month of the season.

The NBA play-in tournament could increase TV ratings

It’s no secret the NBA prioritizes money and lost expected revenues during the 2020 season. From Daryl Morey’s Hong Kong tweet to NBA’s bubble schedule competing for attention against the NFL and everything else between.

The first play-in ever between the Grizzlies and Blazers peaked at 2.6 million viewers, which was one million more average viewers than the average NBA regular-season game in the 19-20 season. That set a precedent for play-in games going forward and it carried over into the 20-21 season. The 2020-2021 regular season average for viewers was 1.3 million, all of the play-in games, both East and West went over that average.

In particular, the Warriors versus Lakers reached 5.6 million viewers, which is well over half of what the 2021 NBA Finals are currently seeing throughout the first three games.

It’s undeniable that the NBA’s play-in games are revenue machines. To get half an NBA Finals viewership-wise with safely assumingly less than half the marketing costs behind it, makes it an easy decision on the NBA’s behalf to keep the play-in tournament for 2021-2022 season alone.