The NBA season, as well as every other sports schedule, has been put on pause until further notice as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. As it stands, NBA action will be suspended until at least April 12th, 30 days after commissioner Adam Silver made the original announcement, but there's a growing belief that the game will be sidelined for much longer than that.
If and when the games resume, the league will surely have to present a revised schedule so that the playoffs don't drag out deep into the summer. One idea, posed by Brooklyn Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie, is to hold a league-wide March Madness-like tournament.
Under Dinwiddie's format, every team in the league would essentially be awarded a spot in the playoffs. The top four seeds, the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers, would all receive first-round byes.
Meanwhile, the bottom for teams, the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors, would be matched up in a pair of best-of-three series' with the winners moving on into the first round bracket. The 24-team first round would utilize a best-of-five format, and then the typical seven-game series would resume once the field is narrowed down to the final 16.
Who knows if the NBA will actually consider such a radical change to their playoff format but it's certainly an intriguing option to discuss.