NBA in-season tournament will 'no doubt' return, Adam Silver says - ESPN

PARIS — NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the in-season tournament will «no doubt» be back next season, with some unspecified tweaks.

So, most likely, will another regular-season trip to Paris — perhaps this time with multiple games for the teams selected.

Silver touched on both of those possibilities for the 2024-25 schedule on Thursday before the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers played the NBA's third regular-season game in Paris.

The in-season tournament, like the play-in that's used to determine the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds for each conference in the playoffs, began with a one-year trial so the league could evaluate it before deciding whether to bring it back.

The tournament wrapped up last month with the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Indiana Pacers in Las Vegas for the NBA Cup. It was mostly well-received by teams and fans. Silver said team presidents recently met and discussed potential modifications, including how how to break ties, the appearance of the courts and perhaps the name of the event.

«We are pleased with the success after the first season and no doubt it will be back next year, probably with just a couple of tweaks,» Silver said. «Then beyond that, as we're talking to television partners, maybe figuring out exactly when the best time of year is to do it, maybe it will make sense to make some other modifications to the format, those are things we'll look at.»

Silver is also looking at returning to Paris, first for the Olympics and then next winter for more NBA games.

With No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama leading France's biggest presence on NBA rosters, and with Paris set to host the Olympics, the French market has become more important to the league.

It staged its first regular-season game in the French