Hours after Luka Doncic criticized the idea of the NBA’s play-in tournament, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPN that the concept is “a huge mistake,” especially because of this season’s compressed schedule.
“I understand why the NBA is doing it,” Cuban said in a series of messages to ESPN. “But if we want to be creative because of COVID, we have to go up 1-20 right away and let the bottom 4 play in. This is especially the year to do it since the 10 games were canceled. [from the normal 82-game schedule] were in conference.
The worst thing about this approach is that it doubles the stress of the compressed schedule. in or remain in the top 6, as the consequences, as Luka said, are huge. So players play more games and more minutes in less days. “
The board of the NBA, which also includes Cuban, unanimously approved a proposal to introduce a play-in tournament for this season, after the league first used it for the play-offs in the bubble last summer.
“In retrospect, this approach was a huge mistake,” Cuban told ESPN.
Dallas (29-24) is ranked seventh in the Western Conference standings, meaning the Mavs would have to compete in the play-in tournament if they cannot advance. They are two games behind the Portland Trail Blazers, who own the tiebreaker between the teams for beating Dallas in two of their three games.
“I don’t understand the idea of a play-in,” said Doncic on Monday. “You play 72 games to get into the play-offs, then you might lose two in a row and you’re out of the play-offs. So I don’t see the point in that.”
The play-in concept includes the teams that finish from seventh to 10th place at each conference. The structure, which the NBA announced in March, includes three games per conference.
The seventh and eighth place teams compete with the winner earning the seventh seed. The ninth and tenth place teams also play against each other, with the loser eliminated in the playoff battle. The loser of the 7-8 game and the winner of the 9-10 game then play, with the eighth playoff seed at stake.
“In a regular season of 82 games where we don’t play 30-plus games in 6 weeks, it might have been okay,” Cuban told ESPN. “But the compression of so many games in so few days makes this a huge mistake.” If we had gone 1 in 16, with the top 12 in it, it would still have been tough, but there would have been more separation between the game. in and the top 12. This is a season where we have to rest players with a lot of use. We have no choice. And that can and will have consequences. “
The Mavericks usually rest Kristaps Porzingis one match during back-to-back matches and occasionally rest Doncic for parts of back-to-backs.