Who's excited for a Warriors-Sixers playoff meeting in the near future? It's not as far-fetched as it sounds.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is exploring the possibility of restructured playoff seeding. One potential format under consideration would see the playoff teams seeded 1-through-16, regardless of conference, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell.
"Reformatting the playoffs is something we'll continue to look at," Silver told ESPN.
For a more balanced postseason picture, the NBA will also have to consider balancing the regular season schedule, explained Silver.
"Our feeling is, if we were going to seed 1-16, we would need to play a balanced schedule to make it fair for everyone if we were going to seed 1-16 in the playoffs," Silver said. "It may be that as we continue to experiment with the number of days over which we can schedule 82 games that it will create more of an opportunity for a balanced schedule."
Silver also acknowledged some of the logistical issues which could stem from a radical playoff restructuring. Picture the Portland Trail Blazers facing the Miami Heat in a first-round series, travelling a gruelling 2,708 miles between locales.
"If we took the existing format, the existing schedule and then we seeded playoffs 1-16, we'd be adding additional travel," Silver told ESPN. "You would have teams criss-crossing the country in the first round."
It's unclear whether any potential change to playoff structuring would do away with allotted conference berths altogether.
The current system, which ensures that the top eight teams in each conference makes the postseason, has the potential to leave otherwise deserving teams out in the cold. In 2014, the 48-34 Phoenix Suns failed to make the playoffs in a stacked Western Conference; the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference that season went to the Atlanta Hawks, who boasted an losing 38-44 record in the regular season.
The NBA has actively looked to improved the on-court product by altering long-standing practices. The upcoming season is scheduled to start approximately 10 days earlier than in years past in an effort to increase natural rest days and disincentivize healthy players sitting out games. Silver has also openly talked about tweaking the number of games in the regular season; the league has operated on an 82-game regular season schedule per team since the 1966-67 season.