The NBA has made several changes to the schedule and league format in recent years; let's solidify everything.
The word on the street is that the 2027-28 season will feature two new NBA teams, namely the Seattle SuperSonics and (probably) a mystery Las Vegas franchise. This would be the first time the NBA expanded since all the way back in 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats (now Charlotte Hornets) were introduced.
As one of the 2K nerds who only does team rebuilds in MyLeague, I've often wondered about what the NBA will look like when expansion finally occurs. In my experience, it leads to a Seattle championship in 2031 with a core of Cason Wallace, Brandon Boston, Alijah Arenas, and Cody Williams. That will probably happen in real life, too.
Division Realignment
Regardless, adding new teams to the league will not only shift the star power but also the divisions and conferences. Here's my suggestion/prediction of how it will all shake out:
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
New York Knicks
Philadelphia 76ers
Central Division
Chicago Bulls
Indiana Pacers
Memphis Grizzlies
Milwaukee Bucks
Great Lakes Division
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards
Southeast Division
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Hornets
Miami Heat
Orlando Magic
Western Conference
Northwest Division
Denver Nuggets
Minnesota Timberwolves
Oklahoma City Thunder
Utah Jazz
Pacific Division
Golden State Warriors
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
Seattle SuperSonics
Southwest Division
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
New Orleans Pelicans
San Antonio Spurs
Sunset Division
Las Vegas Rollers (or, whatever you want to call them)
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix Suns
With 32 teams now instead of 30, I thought it would be fitting to follow the format of the NFL and split each conference into 4 divisions of 4 teams each. I tried my best to keep travel at a minimum (swapping Memphis to the East) while also maintaining healthy divisional rivalries (the Texas teams, although the Rockets are obviously superior). An argument could be made for Minnesota to move over to the East instead of Memphis, but the travel difference wouldn't be much different, and I like the rivalries the Wolves are starting to brew with Denver and OKC.
Swapping a good team to the East like this will also do a nice job of adding more balance to the conferences, as the Grizzlies/Wolves will boost the weaker Eastern conference, and the two expansion teams will likely be bottom-dwellers for a few years in the West.
This realignment, along with some adjustments to divisional implications in the playoffs, will hopefully spark some team pride and trash talk among the new divisions.
Divisions and Playoff Seeding
Prior to the 2015-16 season, the NBA guaranteed division winners a top-four seed in the playoffs. Now, seeding is based solely off of team record, with no regard for divisional prowess. While I agree that the old format was flawed, I still hold the belief that divisional impact on the playoffs is important and can make for some intense, smashmouth basketball games if implemented correctly.
So, what was wrong with the old format? Well, for starters, it seems unfair for a team to work so hard to climb the standings only to be jumped by a team four games back on them. Not just because it's a shot to their pride, but because it forces them to go against tougher competition in the postseason. For example, taking a look at the 2015 playoffs in the photo above, the San Antonio Spurs went from being matched up against the 55-27 Memphis Grizzlies to facing the 56-26 Los Angeles Clippers, and they were eliminated. That was only a one-game difference in record, too; there are surely teams that were thrown into a bigger predicament by being moved down.
If we were to go back to this rule post-expansion, there would be even more problems. Let's take a look at this potential end-of-year scenario. Keep in mind, the colors correspond with the divisions listed above.
With the four division winners taking the top-four seeds, the fifth seed would likely be a juggernaut every year, or at least be better than 1-2 of the division winners. The fifth seed would be favored in their first-round series, handily win it, and go on to play the 1 seed in the second round. This is a lose-lose-lose scenario for fans, teams, and the NBA. No number-1 seed wants their toughest playoff matchup to come in the second round, and as a fan, I don't really want to see that either. Let the best teams play in the conference finals for an even more exciting, high-stakes matchup. I'm sure the NBA would agree.
I have an alternative idea, but I'll leave you in suspense for a little longer while I bring up a couple more points.
The NBA Cup
After two years of the NBA Cup, the league can definitely count it as a success. It's been wildly popular (well, maybe not the courts, though I like a lot of them) and has made for some gritty games. I do, however, think that the stakes can still be higher. 500K for each player on the winning team is great, but an in-season tournament should mean more.
My proposal is that the winner of the NBA Cup should be guaranteed a playoff spot; not a top-four seed, not a top-six seed, just a playoff spot. Nothing is guaranteed in the first month or two of the regular season (when the tournament takes place). Injuries happen that could bump top teams down the standings before April. Teams that start hot can slow down. The winner of the NBA Cup will likely be a playoff team anyway, so why not just guarantee it and make it more exciting?
There are several benefits to this new prize. If any of the core players on the winning team go down with an injury later in the season, the team won't have to rush them back and risk aggravating the injury to keep them in playoff intention, which would probably just lead to a worse playoff performance anyway. Also, teams that might not be expecting to reach the playoffs that season will fight, claw, and scratch their way through the tournament for a guaranteed spot, which would be super entertaining to watch as viewers. In that case, it would shake up the trade deadline, too, since they will no longer be sellers, but buyers, leveling out the playing field in terms of where the talent lies in the league.
Playoff Seeding and Play-In Adjustments
How would playoff guarantees for division winners and the Cup winner affect the playoff seeding in my world, you ask? I'll go through some playoff scenarios to showcase my idea. For simplicity's sake, I'll just use the Western Conference and assume that the NBA Cup champion comes from that conference. "y" will represent division winners, "cup" will represent the NBA Cup winner, "x" will represent a clinched playoff spot, and "pi" will represent a clinched play-in spot.
Scenario 1: The Most Likely Outcome
The most likely playoff scenario is that guaranteeing playoff spots for division winners and the NBA Cup champion will have no effect on the seeding. It won't be this way every year, but the four division winners will probably all end up within the top-six teams in the conference most of the time. The NBA Cup winner, even if it's not one of the division winners, will probably stay good enough throughout the season to remain a top-six team as well. The play-in tournament would just stay untouched in this case.
Scenario 2: Division Winner or Cup Winner in 7th Place
My proposal up to this point has probably left some of you with a question: what if a team with a guaranteed spot doesn't finish as a top-six team in the conference? What will happen to the teams who finish higher?
Keeping the play-in tournament the same would probably mean that the 6th-place Timberwolves would have to face off against the 8th-place Spurs in the first round of the play-in, and thus not be guaranteed a playoff spot. That didn't sit right with me.
My proposal is that top-six teams clinch a playoff spot, no matter what. If the cup winner or a division winner finish lower than 6th place, we can make the necessary adjustments to the play-in tournament.
In this scenario, the Suns win their division despite being only the seventh-best team in the conference and are guaranteed a playoff spot. The Timberwolves, who finish sixth, clinch a playoff spot as well. That means there is only one more spot, the 8th seed, up for grabs.
To decide who gets the nod, the 8th-place Spurs would take on the 9th-place Lakers in a one-game play-in, winner-takes-all. The 10th-place Clippers are eliminated from playoff contention. It may seem a little unfair to take away their shot because another team wasn't good enough, but it would be more unfair to the 6th-place Wolves to not guarantee their spot in this case. The Clippers are the worst team of the bunch in this scenario, after all; sometimes you just need to be better to make the postseason.
Scenario 3: Division Winner or Cup Winner Lower Than 7th Place
It might so happen that the winner of the NBA Cup early in the season will not finish as a top-six or even top-seven team in the conference. If this were to occur, they would still be guaranteed a playoff spot, but their seed would depend on who comes out of the play-in tournament.
In the picture above, San Antonio wins the NBA Cup but finishes as in 8th place, leaving only one playoff spot available for either the 7th-place Timberwolves or the 9th-place Lakers to fight for. If the Wolves were to win, they would take the 7th seed in the playoffs, as they finished with a better record than the Spurs. If the Lakers won, they would be the 8th seed and move the Spurs up to 7th.
If the Spurs finished as the 9th seed or lower in this scenario, the 7th- and 8th-place teams would face-off in the play-in, and the winner would take the 7th seed in the postseason.
Scenario 4: Division Winner AND Cup Winner Lower Than 6th Place (Very Unlikely)
There's a possibility, though a very slight one, that a division winner and the NBA cup winner could finish lower than the 6th-place team in the standings. If that happens, there will be no play-in tournament for that conference. No matter how they finish in the standings (7-8, 8-9, 7-10, etc.), it doesn't matter, they will just take the 7th and 8th seeds in the playoffs.
For example, the picture above shows the Spurs finishing in 7th place, with the Suns (division winner) in 8th and the Lakers (Cup winner) in 9th. The Spurs miss out on the playoffs and there is no play-in.
Note: There is a very, very, low possibility that two division winners and the NBA Cup winner could all finish below 6th place in their conference. In that case, the team in 6th place would be eliminated from playoff contention, while those three teams would take 6-7-8 in the playoff seeding. This would probably never happen.
Final Thoughts
There may be some who are concerned about my proposal for division winners being guaranteed a playoff spot because "the best teams should be in the playoffs." To that I say, the NBA is already giving 10th-place teams (often teams with a losing record) a chance to clinch a playoff spot over 7th-place teams by way of the play-in tournament, so that argument isn't totally valid.
If a bad team were to sneak into the playoffs as the 8th seed... well, we want the best teams to advance to the next rounds anyway, don't we? This isn't like the NFL (note: I love the NFL) where the worst team in the playoffs can be a 4-seed and screw all of the matchups up. No matter how the playoffs shake out with my proposal, the 1-seed will always have a better record than the 2-seed, 2 better than 3, and so on, all the way down to the 8-seed, despite all of the guarantees.
I'm here to advocate for divisional implications to be imposed on the playoffs once again, and for the NBA Cup to mean more than just extra money for the players. It'll make the NBA more intense and exciting. The ratings are down, right? Let me know your thoughts. What do you agree or disagree with?
Until next time.
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