NBA "Seriously Reconsidering" The Idea Of Playoff Reseeding: Report

The NBA has a number of items on the docket for the Board of Governors meeting in April, but the idea of reseeding the final four playoff teams may be off the table. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe, the NBA is “seriously reconsidering” the proposed plan reseeding the conference finalists as part of their larger proposal to reshape the league’s calendar. 

According to the report, one of the major concerns from teams was the potential for a ridiculous travel schedule.

“For example, a Milwaukee-Indiana conference final would presumably benefit the winner of that series over a team that emerged from a cross-country Los Angeles-Miami series. The NBA’s coastal teams have been largely against this reseeding idea, sources said. The league’s research has shown that the proposal of reseeding teams based on regular season records could lead to travel increases of 60% and could result in one in one out of every four series being played across three time zones, sources said.”

Although it looks like the reseeding proposal may be off the table, the league is still hoping to implement an in-season tournament and post-season play-in for the seventh and eighth playoff seeds. The league is hoping that those changes could be in place for the NBA’s 75th season in 2021-2022, but in order for that to occur, two-thirds of the NBA teams and NBPA must agree to the changes at the April meeting.