I think the Champions League comp is off as teams are regularly playing against teams they don't normally play against. And even when they do play against familiar competition, its in the context of a tournament that involved dozens of teams not normally aggregated like that. If this tournament included top-flight teams from other countries' leagues, (Champions League-style)_ *that* would be something interesting. (I dont know, would the NBA top four obliterate all the top teams from all the top leagues elsewhere?)
I don't think that's off the table, but Silver has to establish a rhythm for this event, fix the early-edition bugs with it, get fans used to the idea, and then he can start experimenting again. Just doing this at all - with basically no net-new games or changes to the league calendar writ large - is an achievement. If we get through year 3 and the ticket prices and ratings for tournament games are double that of the adjacent non-tournament games, and some fans are saying stuff like "well at least the year wasn't a total waste, we did win the NBA Cup, that was awesome, I wish I'd gone to Vegas for it", he will have latitude to think more creatively about it - and will have a receptive audience for those ideas among the players, union and ownership.
Including international teams is the obvious play. Or even a handful of college and G-league teams. The league could:
- Go to a 6-round (64-spot) single-elimination tournament, having fewer entrants than that to give a certain amount of NBA teams byes to the R32, still counting any match between NBA teams for the regular season, but also inviting certain outside teams
- Invite other
leagues to send an all-star team, which might give an NBA team more of a game and would be a showcase for those other leagues' talent levels and possible NBA draft potential.
- Let G-league and even some college teams in on the early rounds, as a reward (and kinda as a break for the NBA teams)
Alternatively, have
another tournament, but in the preseason, with tournament games replacing preseason games as teams advance. The NBA teams can be allowed to not take it all that seriously if they don't want to, but this one could include a wider pool of non-league teams and be more "fun". And teams do this already, playing in China or Europe against national teams or top club teams (Mavs played against Real Madrid, Doncic's old team). So more like the
International Champions Cup - a soccer preseason "tournament" which was fun but didn't survive the pandemic - than the Champions League. Some games in such an event could be international, like have a pool or part of the bracket playing in country X, then everyone comes home and either plays the next round(s) or reverts to a regular preseason set of games.