The NBA kicked off the 2023-2024 season with a slightly new regular season schedule format. This past offseason, the league voted to institute an in-season tournament. For the tournament, the entire league was split into six groups of five, three in the Eastern Conference and three in the Western Conference. For the first few weeks, the teams will play regular season games against teams in their pool in a round robin format. The top teams in each pool, along with the next best team in each conference will advance to the knockout round. The knockout round consists of the top eight teams in a single elimination format with the Championship taking place in December. The prize is an in-season trophy tournament and an automatic bid to the playoffs in April, regardless of the team’s regular season record.

The NBA in-season tournament is in the middle of pool play right now, with games being played every Tuesday and Friday for the last few weeks. Each team has a new, colorful court design specifically for tournament games. For example, the Celtics court is now green with a tournament trophy design around center court. NBA commissioner, Adam Silver is trying out this new format as a way to make regular season games more meaningful and competitive. Over the last few seasons, there has been an issue of star players resting when healthy and not playing as many minutes in regular season games. Silver wants these players to play, especially in nationally televised games where fans are spending hundreds of dollars to see the best players play. Another rule change that the players association agreed on in the offseason was requiring players to play at least 65 games to be eligible for awards such as MVP and NBA all team. The ultimate goal for the in season tournament is to make the regular season more intense so fans get to experience the best that the regular season has to offer.