Someone asked San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich this week about the chances the Spurs and rookie Victor Wembanyama have of winning the NBA Finals this year.
Popovich politely laughed. “Talking about the Spurs and the finals is premature,” he said.
But there is another trophy the Spurs — and every other team in the league — have a chance at winning. The NBA’s In-Season Tournament starts Friday, after years of planning by Commissioner Adam Silver to have a second trophy for teams to compete for during the season. He’s likened it to what happens in global soccer and thinks having something besides the end-of-season title will heighten interest.
“It’s exciting for everybody,” Popovich said. “You have to understand: all these guys are very competitive. It doesn’t matter what team. They’ve been competitive all their lives to reach this level of basketball. If you put something out there like this, it just adds to that competitiveness and really signals what might happen toward the end of the season.”
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Every Tuesday and Friday in November (except for this coming Tuesday, when there are no games to commemorate Election Day) has been designated as a tournament night. All games on the schedule those nights are tournament games.