LA Clippers: NBA releases the results of their GM survey
The NBA released the results of its survey of the LA Clippers and all 30 General Managers.
It seems like every day we learn a little more about the eventual return of LA Clippers basketball. Yesterday, the NBA released the results of the survey they sent to all 30 General Managers asking their thoughts on various possible competitive structures for when play does resume.
What we’ve learned is that there is no possible scenario that will please everyone, no matter how hard the league may try.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver held a conference call yesterday to discuss the results with teams. One GM told The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor “There was zero commitment to any one plan. But it was a call to gather more information.”
According to O’Connor’s reporting, half of the GMs voted to scrap the rest of the regular season and move directly to the playoffs, while the other 50 percent voted for some type of pre-playoff play. A little more than half of the league voted in favor of a 16-team playoff format that does away with conference affiliation and simply accepts the teams with the best overall records.
GMs were also asked about other potential scenarios, including a “Playoff-Plus” play-in tournament to determine the final playoff seeds and a World Cup-style group play option. 75 percent of GMs were in favor of the play-in tournament while only 25 percent supported the World-Cup style group play.
It was reported that teams voted in their own best interests, with conference leaders the Lakers and Bucks opposing group-style play, an obvious disadvantage to teams who have earned the top seeds in their respective conferences. While none of the proposed options will satisfy every team, the league has shown they have taken the proper steps to consider various scenarios and values the input of their teams in their task to make this unprecedented decision.
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Ultimately, the return of NBA action will be good for the league, and their revenue, which in turn will benefit the players and their pockets as well. As long as the league can come up with a safe plan for basketball to return the actual format matters less than the mere fact that we’ll all get to enjoy hoops again.