NBA Notes: In-Season Tournament, Draft, Netflix, France

In-Season Tournament

NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed in Paris on Thursday that the In-Season Tournament will return for the 2024-25 season. Although, it may not look the same.

“We are pleased with the success after the first season and no doubt it will be back next year, probably with just a couple of tweaks,” Silver told reporters. “Then beyond that, as we’re talking to television partners, maybe figuring out exactly when the best time of year is to do it, maybe it will make sense to make some other modifications to the format, those are things we’ll look at.”

One thing team executives would like to see is the tournament winner being rewarded beyond just the small banner received by the Lakers, this year’s champion. We have some of their ideas here.

NBA Draft

• The league is awaiting approval from the players’ association to make the draft a two-day event, starting this summer, as we relayed here. There is also the possibility that there could be more time between picks in the second round, as opposed to the current two.

NBA Television/Streaming

Netflix is making a new docuseries that will feature Lakers star LeBron James and others, as relayed by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Others expected to be featured: Celtics guard/forward Jayson Tatum, Heat guard/forward Jimmy Butler, Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards and Kings center Domantas Sabonis. No word yet on when the series will be released or what it will be called.

• As for television rights deals, Silver said from Paris there are no updates. Talks with current partners Turner Sports and ESPN have not yet begun. “My sense is over the next month or so those conversations will become more intense as we focus on this exclusive negotiating period, and we’ll see whether we can get them done during that period or whether we end up having further discussions beyond that,” Silver said.
• Silver added that there is likely to be more than two teams playing in France in the future. This year, only the Cavaliers and Nets played. The Cavs won, as detailed in the latest Dribbles.