The ratings throughout the tournament have been up compared to games in previous seasons. Players and coaches have described tournament games as having a playoff-like atmosphere.
As Evan Wasch, the NBA’s Executive Vice President of Basketball Strategy & Analytics, walked near T-Mobile Arena’s loading dock earlier in the week before the start of the NBA In-Season Tournament’s final four, a grin came across his face.
The inaugural tournament, which Wasch has been credited for spearheading and said had been a conversation within the league office for almost 15 years, had been viewed by many as an overwhelming success even before Saturday’s championship game between the Lakers and Indiana Pacers.
The ratings throughout the tournament have been up compared to games in previous seasons. Players and coaches have described tournament games as having a playoff-like atmosphere.
And the buy-in from the people who ultimately make the tournament work – the players and coaches – has been there from Day One. Especially with the ultimate cash prize of $500,000 for the players on the winning team of the tournament.
“It’s been incredibly positive,” Wasch told the Southern California News Group. “It’s gone better than we possibly could have hoped or expected, in large part because of the player and team buy-in. We’ve always known that the success of this would ultimately be driven by how much players and teams care about this, and I think the verdict is in and they care about it.
“Between the quality of the competition on the court, the way they’ve talked about it on social media and in their post-game press conferences, it’s clear that there was just a lot of energy and excitement across the board. Even from players who admitted that they were skeptics before the tournament are now bought in. And so that was just really exciting to see and couldn’t have been known until it happened.
