As much as I enjoy the NBA, I think there are steps that could be taken to dramatically grow the league domestically and internationally. I saw this piece by Howard Beck discussing NBA insiders’ ideas on the future of the league and I was blown away. Some of it is in line with thoughts I’ve had, and other bits (that I’ve included in my list and expanded on) were totally new to me. You should give it a read.

Anyway, if I were in charge of the NBA…

• The basketball season would be split. There would be 52 regular season NBA games. Playoff series would be best of 5. Players would be more rested. There would be fewer injuries. The season wouldn’t drag on — every game would matter. Then, after the season is over, there would be a European extension of the NBA — 20 or 30 teams playing a 30 game schedule. The European NBA season would end with a single-elimination tournament. It’d be an NBA venture owned by NBA team owners. Players could opt to play one or both seasons. A player like Kevin Garnett could retire from the NBA but then play the shorter European schedule for a few months. It’d be incredibly compelling entertainment and provide more options for players.
• There wouldn’t be any guaranteed contracts or a maximum salary. There are horrible contracts weighing down a bunch of teams in the league. The reason these teams are “tanking” isn’t only so they can get a good draft pick — it’s because there isn’t any other viable option. There’s too much dead weight on their payroll. Eliminating guaranteed contracts would make players less complacent and give more teams a chance to compete. Removing the maximum salary would actually distribute the talent more evenly — you wouldn’t find LeBron, Bosh, and Wade playing on the same team, because those guys could be making huge money separately. In that sense, it’d be good for smaller market teams.
• The NBA season would start the Wednesday after the Superbowl. The country is focused on football from September-early February. That’s just the way it is. The NBA could capture the nation’s attention in February, have the All-Star break in April, start the playoffs at the end of May, and begin the Finals on the night of July 4th. The European extension would start in August and go through October. Training camp starts just after the new year.
• Players in the NBA Draft would need to be at least two years removed from high school. The NCAA is generally a good environment for players to improve their fundamentals, which is important in today’s AAU-centric basketball world. Maybe there would even be some rivalries hatched in the college game that would translate to the pros.
• Another step that I would take to prevent tanking is to include teams that lose in the first round of the playoffs in the draft lottery. The worst team in the league will get 22 ping pong balls, and the team with the best record that lost in the first round of the playoffs will get 1. Teams that advanced to the second round of the playoffs will get picks 23-30. If this happened, you’d see teams in the 9-12 seed range fighting harder for a playoff spot. I firmly believe that for the league to be healthy, teams need to be fighting for a playoff spot as hard as NFL teams do. That’s not happening in today’s NBA. This plan helps fix that. I attached an image below to illustrate how it could shake out.

The NBA is a unique league. It’s more star-driven than the NFL, MLB, and NHL. Fans are closer to the action than in any other sport. Silver and his team need to focus on making the game more competitive, compelling, and relevant in America, and then bring it to the rest of the world.

Let’s fix what’s broken with the NBA, improve other areas, then take the game in earnest to the rest of the world. David Falk had an awesome quote in Beck’s article:

“I think to make the game truly global, you have to do more than show it on TV. You need to what they say in the military—you need to have boots on the ground.”

The long-term model for the NBA isn’t the NFL. It’s a rockstar, like Bruce Springsteen. He can sell out Madison Square Garden and a week later be in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans in Europe. He attracts worldwide attention because he’s a world-class entertainer. There are monetizing opportunities at every corner. That’s what the NBA can be.

It’s a huge, huge opportunity, and luckily, I think Adam Silver realizes it.