Since the emergence of the NBA, there have been updates to its postseason format to ensure the best entertainment for fans all over the world. Talks of changing the format has come up as Commissioner Silver hints toward certain changes. In its 72 years of existence, the league’s postseason has been split up between two conferences- the east and the west. Teams fall in either of the conferences based on their location in the United States. For years, the postseason has consisted of the top eight teams from both conferences, who face off until there is one team left from each conference. With a total of 16 teams, the playoffs can be an exciting environment for fans and players alike.

Now the NBA and Commissioner Silver are proposing a new format that would change the way playoffs play out. With the argument that the ‘east versus west’ format not being appealing to fans anymore, they want to spice things up a bit. The league wants to get rid of the east versus west format, and make it so the top 16 teams in the entire league are eligible in the postseason. This would be interesting because teams from the west could play teams from the east at any given point in the postseason. In the current formatting, an eastern team would never play a western team unless it was in the NBA finals. In the new formatting, the best eight teams from each conference would still make the playoffs, but they would be ranked one through 16 overall, with the one seed playing the 16 seed, the two seed playing the 15 seed and so on.

The plan could come to fruition, but the league and Commissioner Silver are only worried about one obstacle, that being travel. If conferences are eliminated, the travel could be more strenuous with teams having to travel coast to coast on virtually a daily basis. In the current formatting, travel is convenient because conference teams are usually on the same side of the map. The postseason can get a little dull, due to teams having “super teams” that blow through the competition to the finals. It seems as if there is only or two one great teams from each conference, and they tend to always play each other in the championship. This alteration would change up the matchups drastically which fans would really appreciate. The league really wants to make this change, but they just have to tie up a few loose ends to ensure it is the right thing to do.