The NBA has recently been adding a lot of changes to its league but the one most people are talking about is the In-Season Tournament. 

The NBA In-Season Tournament is sort of like a mini playoffs but instead of after the season ending, it’s during the season. It sounds simple, but it’s way more complex than a regular playoff bracket. All 30 teams are split up into six groups of five. They each play 4 games against each team in the group which will determine who moves onto the knockout round. However there are two special teams that are called the “Wild Card”. The wild card teams were the one team from each conference that wasn’t first, but still finished with the best record in the conference. If there was a tie, tiebreaker rules would take place.

Charlie Lozer, a 12-year-old on All Stars said, “There are many rules, but it is still fun to watch,” The tiebreaker rules are in sequential order so if they tied again, it would go to the next tiebreaker. The tiebreaker rules go in this order: Head-to-Head group stage record, point differential in the group stage, total points scored in the group stage, regular season record in the 2022-2023 NBA Regular Season, and finally random drawing which would be super unlikely. After a month of group play, the knockout rounds come into play. It’s one game and then move on. Get to the and win.

On Dec. 9 the Los Angeles Lakers won the very first NBA In-Season tournament with a reward of the NBA Cup and 500k to each of the players that won.

A common thought that most people had was how they didn’t like the court’s design. The courts were vibrant and colorful, which made it look weird. Mr. Stokes, the principal, said, “It was interesting and confusing at the same time,” A similar thought on the courts came from Charlie Lozer, a 12-year-old on the All Stars team. Charlie stated with confidence, “The courts are ugly,” 

Some positive feedback on the NBA In-Season Tournament was how they enjoyed the amount of competitiveness it added to the season. Charlie said, “I think it will add more competitiveness and excitement to the game,”

Gavin Satterfield, a 13-year-old on the Trailblazers said, “I feel good because it adds more competitiveness to the game,” he felt that way because it “gives fans what they want”. Charlie didn’t like the courts because some of the colors didn’t go well together.

Charlie, Gavin and Mr. Stokes enjoy playing basketball, along with watching it, and they’ve have played it for a while. Mr. Stokes played basketball in fourth grade up until seventh. Charlie has been playing for six years and Gavin has been playing for eight years, and they all loved it. Gavin and Charlie’s favorite memories have something in common. Gavin said that his favorite memory was getting 20 points and making one of his closest friends cry because of it and Charlie’s was getting 20 points on the best team in his division. Mr. Stokes said that he liked all of the team moments he had with his friends.

“I’ve always sort of dabbled with it here and there,” Said Mr. Stokes.