The NBA in-season tournament seems to be a success after the hype created among the fans after the Los Angeles Lakers won the finals against the Indiana Pacers on December 9, 2023. As per Evan Wasch, NBA’s Executive Vice President of Basketball Strategy and Analytics, the inaugural tournament has had extremely high traction as compared to games in previous seasons.
While the players and coaches have described games as having an environment similar to the playoffs, the ultimate cash prize of $500,000 for the players of the winning franchise just adds to the excitement. As the finals concluded this morning at the ‘Sin City’, discussions ensued about what changes could be introduced for future iterations of the event.
Adams Silver, the NBA commissioner, has jumped on the narrative with his views as well. Before the Lakers became the pioneer team to uplift the NBA Cup, Silver opened up about what he had in mind for the second edition of the in-season tournament.
Silver said, “I love the court we are using here for the semifinals and final game, but I think there could be some more creativity and set some parameters for the teams.” Taking into account the requests in favor of having the Larry O’Brien trophy in the center, Silver added, “For the Finals, we could have a special Finals court—not just with the Larry O’Brien trophy in the center, but a little bit more colorful.”
Adam Silver hints that the Larry O’Brien trophy at mid court will return for the NBA Finals:
“For the Finals, we could have a special Finals court — not just with the (Larry O’Brien) trophy in the center, but a little bit more colorful.”
Thoughts? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/DXvz5DfMKc
— NBA Buzz (@OfficialNBABuzz) December 10, 2023
While the NBA Commissioner claims to be a big advocate of the colorful courts, fans might get to see the O’Brien trophy once again after it was removed from the center.
Why did the NBA remove the Larry O’Brien trophy from the courts?
The Larry O’Brien trophy was last seen on the NBA courts during the 2010 finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. The prominent reason for the removal of the logo was deemed to be the fact that players found it difficult to play on those decals. These temporary decals were made of stickers, and hence players became susceptible to frequent injuries.
While Silver plans on reintroducing the trophy logo on the courts, he seems to take it into account beforehand. Silver said to The Athletic, “Obviously, we want to make sure that the players have confidence in them, that the type of paint used isn’t (too) slippery, and I think we’ve dealt with those issues incidentally, but we want to make sure they’re not a distraction.”
Fans responded to Silver’s ideas, with one writing, “Please bring back the trophy in the middle.” It looks like that’s a common request from the NBA world, as many have asked for the Larry O’Brien logo to be at the center once again.
Please bring back the trophy in the middle 🙏🏽
— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) December 10, 2023
We just want the trophy 💔
— 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 (@HeatvsHaters) December 10, 2023
Just bring this back, no need for the colors and big trophy in the middle pic.twitter.com/hHZKyHTQyM
— ☔️ (@wezzyupnext) December 10, 2023
There is also concern about the trophy covering the center-court line, which makes it difficult for the referees to call out back-court violations. However, Silver seems imperative about some changes, and only time will tell whether these changes will be sustained or not.
