Originally posted on RealGM | By John Wilmes | Last updated 5/11/21
The NBA’s new “play-in” tournament is likely here to stay, and with it comes a tectonic shift in the league’s class structure. Where there once was 16 postseason spots guaranteed to teams that win a certain amount during the regular season, there are now 12. Where there once was 14 teams with no kind of taste of the playoffs, there will now be just 10. Where there once was… nothing… there will now be eight teams pitted against each other in single-elimination chaos, likely for the privilege of being first-round cannon fodder. All in all, it’s an expansion of the middle class paired with a contraction of the upper class.