NBA: Adam Silver talks about possible change of playoff format

In the past, there have been repeated demands to restructure the seeding of the playoffs. Commissioner Adam Silver also seems open to change and suggests possible changes.

At the annual press conference on All-Star Saturday, Silver once again addressed the topic of playoff seeding. However, the Commissioner sees further problems, as the regular season schedule is not balanced. This means that there is probably no scenario in which only the best 16 teams of the main rounds qualify for the postseason.

However, Silver suggested a possible compromise. Thus, the best eight teams of each conference could continue to qualify, but then a seed list of 1 to 16 would be possible. So the two best teams could meet in the finals, although they would play in the same conference.

“It would be desirable for the two best teams of the season to meet in the finals,”said Silver,”We’ll take a closer look. I hope we’ll find a good solution.”

Another problem is the long journey in a possible first round matchup, for example between Golden State and Miami, especially in view of the 2-2-1-1-1-1-1 playoff format:”You’d have to extend the season a little bit in order for the teams to be able to cope with the journeys,”added Silver.

In order to implement such a change, 20 of the 30 teams would have to vote in favour. However, it is doubtful that such a change would go through, as at least five Eastern Conference members would have to vote for it. As the East was significantly weaker in the past, it would be a disadvantage for the Eastern Conference teams to vote for this change.