The NBA, the Players Association and the league’s broadcast partners are discussing some radical changes to the league’s schedule.

There are multiple concepts being batted.  Some of those that are being considered include the possibility of reseeding teams at the conference finals stage, an in-season tournament, play-in postseason games and shortening the regular season.

There is hope that the league will be able to bring a vote to the Board of Governors at the April meetings with a plan to implement any changes in time for the 2021-22 campaign.

Should the NBA go with re-seeding after the conference semi finals route, it would likely mean that the top two teams will meet in the league finals, rather than in the conference finals.

For example. Last season the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors held the best two records in the NBA regular season but met in the Eastern Conference finals.  Had they been re-seeded, Milwaukee would have taken on the Portland Trail Blazers while the Raptors would have taken on the Golden State Warriors.

If the league went with an in-season tournament it would work in two stages.  The first would see all 30 teams play in a divisional group stage, with the game being part of the regular season schedule.  Following that, the top team in each division, plus two wild card teams based on the best remaining records, will advance to a knockout tournament stage.

Initially, the belief was that an event like that would take place in January-February but the NBPA has reportedly been more receptive to a November-December structure.

Play-in games for postseason berths would feature the seventh to 10^th seeded teams in each conference.  The reported format would see seventh face eighth with the winner being seeded seventh in the postseason.  The loser of the contest will then face the winner of the ninth against 10^th game.  That winner would then be placed in the eighth seed slot.

If this had happened last season, we would have seen the Orlando Magic (7^th) and Detroit Pistons (8^th) play for the seventh seed.  The loser of that game would have then taken on the winner of a game between the Charlotte Hornets (9^th) and the Miami Heat (10^th) in a play-in game for the eighth seed.

To accommodate the addition of an in-season tournament and play-in games, the NBA schedule would be reduced to a minimum of 78 regular season games and a maximum of 83 in uncommon circumstances.