LeBron James and Luka Doncic have been the two biggest stars on record to denounce and condemn the NBA’s play-in tournament experiment.
From their position, the idea of having to play a mini-series just for a spot in the playoffs is only increasing the difficulty of the path in front of them.
And while many in the community attribute their objections to simple whining, one former NBA All-Star (Kenyon Martin Sr.) took their side, explaining on BasketballNews.com’s Unfiltered podcast why the whole thing is a bad idea.
“Biggest issue for me is this play-in situation,” Martin said. “I think this s**t bogus man. I think it’s whack. I think it’s dumb. Like LeBron said, whoever made up that s**t needs to be fired. I understand if you got like two teams like eighth and ninth and they got the same record. Let them play a one-game or two- or three-game mini series and then see who come out on top of that. But having four teams? That makes absolutely no sense.”
“I think that sh*t bogus, man. I think it’s wack.” –@KenyonMartinSr on the play-in tournament. Do you agree with him? 🤔👀
Full episode here: https://t.co/SdBr9CbITh pic.twitter.com/bdNnstT1Ew
— BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) May 5, 2021
The whole idea behind the play-in tournament, as specified by the NBA’s VP of Basketball Strategy and Analytics, is to increase the importance of the regular season and up the competitiveness throughout.
By having the play-in tourney, it not only gives lower seeds a fighting chance, it gives the playoff teams an incentive to try and shoot for a sixth seed or higher. It makes every game important.
And while many are struggling with the idea, it’s hard to say it hasn’t been successful.
Ultimately, though, we’ll just have to wait and see how long it all stick around.
