For the last few years, reports have said the NBA will probably add a couple of teams in the next few years.
But that expansion might not just change the number of teams in the league, according to new reporting.
Brian Windhorst says, via NBACentral, that Western Conference executives think the NBA could eliminate conferences and have the top 16 teams make the playoffs once there are 32 squads.
Windhorst wrote:
“Instead of dealing with that thorny competition, West executives told ESPN they believe both issues can be corrected by dropping conferences altogether and seeding teams 1 through 16 regardless of geography. The concept has been raised before. But expansion, the thinking goes, would create a reason to take a fresh look.”
Western Conference executives believe the NBA could eliminate conferences and have the top 16 teams make the playoffs when the league expands to 32 teams, per @WindhorstESPN
“Instead of dealing with that thorny competition, West executives told ESPN they believe both issues can… pic.twitter.com/Oe9yVyaRXd
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) November 22, 2024
That would be an absolutely massive change for the league, and it would totally transform what the postseason looks like.
NBA fans have commented that one conference always seems better than the other.
But when the playoffs roll around, it’s always the top eight teams from each conference that makes the postseason.
With this new plan, the conferences wouldn’t matter at that time of year.
This would certainly lead to more exciting playoffs, and the competition would be even tougher.
That would be great news for fans who want to see high-stakes basketball in the postseason.
Nothing is official yet, and the NBA may decide to pass on this concept entirely.
But it’s becoming obvious that the league is going to shake things up at least in one way soon.
Additional teams are coming, there is no doubt about that.
And with those teams, even more changes could be on the horizon.
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