Commissioner Adam Silver has a compromise for those wanting to change the NBA playoffs format.
The league has experienced an imbalance of power in recent years, with more good teams in the Western Conference. That has prompted some to suggest the playoffs should take the 16 best NBA teams, regardless of conference.
Silver said he still wants the eight best teams in the Western and Eastern conferences in the playoffs, but they would be seeded by record, 1-16, rather than by conference.
"You also would like to have a format where your two best teams are ultimately going to meet in the Finals," Silver said at his All-Star Saturday news conference, via ESPN. "You could have a situation where the top two teams in the league are meeting in the conference finals or somewhere else. So we're going to continue to look at that. It's still my hope that we're going to figure out ways."
For Silver's playoff format to work, scheduling would need to be adjusted, with more travel days scheduled if teams from opposite ends of the country played each other.
"Maybe ultimately you have to add even more days to the season to spread it out a little bit more to deal with the travel," Silver said. "Maybe air travel will get better. All things we'll keep looking at."
For Silver's concept to happen, 20 of the 30 NBA teams would need to vote in favor. While it's unlikely these changes will happen anytime soon, it's the first time since Silver became commissioner in 2014 he has hinted at changing the system.
