NBA owners vote to keep play-in tournament for 2021-22

The NBA's board of governors voted Tuesday to continue the play-in tournament for the 2021-22 season, the league announced.

It will use the same format as the 2020-21 version, which involved seeds No. 7-10 in each conference.

The play-in tournament will take place April 12-15, two days after the end of the regular season.

Commissioner Adam Silver said in May that he hoped the competition would become a permanent fixture in the NBA calendar. His remarks came weeks after the tournament was heavily criticized by multiple stars in the league, including LeBron James and Luka Doncic.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies came out of the Western Conference's play-in tournament as the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively. In the East, the Boston Celtics were the seventh seed and the Washington Wizards the eighth. All four teams were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.