The NBA regular season has officially begun, and fans are gearing up for what should be another fun season. For all that the NBA does well, it does many things that stop it from being even bigger and better than it already is.
I believe the NBA has three easy fixes that they can make to make the NBA the sport to watch every single night.
3 Things That Would Fix the NBA
Cut Back on Fouls Called
Whenever anybody talks about their favorite days of the NBA, they’re usually talking about the late 1990s or early 2000s. The brand of basketball was hard-nosed, players put everything on the line every night, and fans were treated to great games every time they tuned in. The executives at the NBA seem to think that fans want to see more offense, but basketball fans don’t want to see “more offense” if that means all those points come at the free throw line.
The crap foul baiting that LeBron James, Joel Embiid, James Harden, and so many other players resort to simply isn’t basketball. On most nights, especially when games are nationally televised, you see less contact and pure basketball than you would out of two junior varsity teams in high school. Fans want to see incredible scorers and we already have them in the league. Stop taking the tempo and feel out of the game for 10-20 more points that nobody is happy to see anyway.
Make Divisions & the NBA Cup Mean Something
Out of all the major sports leagues in the world, the NBA is the only one where divisions and in-season tournaments don’t matter. When teams win the division, nothing happens. The fact that winning your division means nothing is sad. To change that, the NBA needs to make it so that the division winners automatically qualify for the top three seeds. It gives all division winners automatic home-court advantage while also making a divisional title worth something.
The NBA Cup has the same issue. Let’s be honest, the NBA Cup doesn’t matter at all right now. An easy way to fix that is to give the winner of the NBA Cup an automatic spot in the playoffs. Have them qualify for the fourth seed in their conference. If they finish in the top three, the playoff seeding can continue as usual, but if they don’t, they should have a spot in the playoffs and a home-court advantage. This lifeline could give the more mediocre teams something to shoot for and give the NBA Cup actual meaning. If the NBA wants a good product, put something on the line that matters.
Get Back to Actual Journalism/Media Coverage
I think I speak for all NBA fans when I say that the product(s) put out by ESPN, FOX, etc. is absolute garbage. Talking heads clearly have an agenda to pressure big-name players to get out of small markets and into big markets so the league can make more money. If that sounds like somewhat of a conspiracy, just look at how the media treated Giannis Antetokounmpo before and after he re-signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023. The same thing that happened to Jimmy Butler in Minnesota is happening to Nikola Jokic right now, and it will happen to many players in the future.
The sad fact is it’s not just the media trying to create fire where there isn’t even smoke, it’s the clear lack of care for the product they put out. Richard Jefferson will go on TV and say the Bucks couldn’t win with Khris Middleton as their fifth option when he averaged 25/9/5 in the playoffs last year on a bad ankle. Kendrick Perkins asked “When will Jayson Tatum arrive?” in reference to recent playoff performances last year when he was averaging 25/10/5 at that time. It’s clear that these talking heads either don’t watch basketball or are just saying whatever they feel will get themelves attention. Either way, it annoys fans and causes people to turn away from NBA media coverage.
