So what if there was a way to add more juice to the regular season, to turn some of the 82 games into events that look and feel different from the regular season? And with that, after years of prodding led by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, the in-season tournament was born. "I think it's great for the league whenever you can play meaningful basketball," Darvin Ham said. Any time you can get meaningful basketball this early in the season, I think it's great for the league. For the Lakers, the tournament begins at a time when they need every bit of motivation they can find.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 09, 2023 22:06 UTC