The NBA and National Basketball Player’s Association agreed to a new CBA Wednesday, which will take effect this weekend and remain in effect through the 2029-30 season. Among a number of changes, the league will host an in-season tournament, intended to bolster ratings and player participation early in the season.
The in-season tournament, which will be implemented this fall, will feature all 30 teams in specific games during the first two months of the season. There will be a group stage followed by a knockout stage, and players on the final four teams remaining will be compensated. Every game except the championship game will count towards the regular season.
The idea for a special event during the regular season has been a longtime pet project of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who is looking to incentivize competition in the early stages of the season. At a business convention in April, he also said that an additional tournament would be another step toward embracing the league’s increasingly international identity.
“Taking a page from European soccer where they play for multiple cups throughout the season,” Silver said. “We think taking nothing away from the Larry O’Brien trophy, and the ultimate goal of winning a championship, that you can create another competition within the season that becomes meaningful. And there’s a recognition that new traditions are not built overnight.”
Silver’s new tournament comes as a sort of counterculture movement within the league, which has shifted more and more toward self-preservation during the regular season. Star players will often rest as much as possible to avoid injuries and general fatigue in preparation for the playoffs, which has diminished the importance of the first few months of the season. It is unclear if an in-season tournament would solve this issue on its own, though the CBA also added a new 65-game requirement for receiving NBA honors.
In addition to the new tournament format and 65-game threshold, the CBA also added a second salary cap apron, $17.5 million over the current one, which will impose further restrictions on teams who spend more. Players will also be permitted to smoke marijuana without receiving a suspension.
