The NBA was a thoroughly commercial league. More games and more gimmicks meant the most direct benefits: more tickets sold, more merchandise sold, and more advertising revenue.
In the long run, the longer and more exciting the games were, the bigger the contracts they could sign with television networks. NBA broadcast deals with TV networks were measured in the tens of billions!
Those were the league's primary sources of income.
In fact, that was why the NBA had back-to-back games and an 82-game regular season.
From a competitive and player-welfare perspective, an 82-game regular-season schedule was extremely unreasonable and completely unnecessary.
If the regular season were shortened, well-rested players might play harder and make it more exciting.
But from a business standpoint, an 82-game regular season was very necessary. Only by stretching out the schedule could the league make enough money.
And in recent years, because the Cavaliers, Warriors, and Grizzlies had formed a three-way power balance, the playoffs had become far less exciting.
Take this year, for example. Before the three teams met one another, none of them had lost a game, sweeping their way through every round. As a result, the league's playoff revenue had plummeted.
After all, games without suspense could not attract fans' attention. Faced with this situation, Adam Silver had come up with his own solution.
Back when Stern was in charge, there had at most been superstar whistles. But in the years since Silver took power, it was no longer about superstar whistles—it was about whistles for the team that was behind!
After Mr. Silver took office in 2014, there were five Game 7s in the first round of that year's playoffs! Ever since then, it had become common for teams that were behind in the playoffs to receive favorable calls and close the