Group Stage in NBA play-offs? What is the new proposal that could change the format of it?

  NBA commissioner Adam Silver sent a survey to GMs of 30 clubs to offer new formats for the play-offs for this season.  According to The Ringer, one of the proposals suggested a group stage instead, with further play-off games between 8 best clubs. How will the NBA form the groups, if the proposal is accepted? 16 clubs from Eastern and Western conferences will qualify for the second round. In addition, 4 clubs with best records in both conferences will join them to form 5 tiers.  At this point, Portland Trailblazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs are the 4 clubs with best records in the league that could form the 20-team list for the group stage.  After that, the NBA will form 4 groups of 5 teams (one from each tier). In each group, the opponents will face each other twice. Two teams with best records will qualify for the next round. If two teams have equal amounts of points, then the winner will be decided by the record of the regular season. The Ringer According to the sources, NBA are considering changes due to the lack of interest from the fans to the traditional first round of the play-offs. Last season, there was only one 6-game series and one 7-game series.  Several clubs from the Eastern Conference are against such kinds of changes. The NBA are still looking for possible ways for the restart of the season.

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