To the athletes involved, professional sports is always about one thing: Winning a tournament.
It seems logical that adding another one could only be to everyone’s benefit, but for the Emirates NBA Cup that hasn’t been the case.
Opening night of the NBA Cup tipped off Tuesday, and even as an avid NBA fan no one I spoke to about the games even mentioned the tournament. Sure, it’s exciting that Klay returned to the Bay in a new uniform and the reigning-champion Celtics dropped a game to the struggling Hawks, but not once did anyone mention the Cup.
Not even to mock the brightly colored courts.
So why don’t fans seem to care? The games certainly don’t lack intensity — three of the eight games were decided by a single possession — and they certainly are important to the players. (See: Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid’s season debut despite injury and Golden State’s Stephen Curry’s emotional reaction to a clutch three.)
Maybe the struggle to enjoy the cup comes from a shallowness to conversations surrounding the cup. After an excellent attempt to make the win legitimate from Los Angeles’ Lebron James last season, most of the media coverage around the Cup revolves around the cash prize for the winners.
The Lakers’ Rui Hachimura was asked by Bleacher Report why the Lakers want to repeat as Cup champs and his answer was simple: “We just want the money.”
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said something to the same effect to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“It would be an amazing thing for our young players to get the financial reward that comes with winning the NBA Cup,” Kerr said. “It’s a lot of money.”
NBA contracts are already some of the largest in American sports, so It’s not exactly an enthralling narrative that players want to make an extra half-a-million dollars.
Contract bonuses for winning the playoffs have been around forever, but no one ever talks about it during the tournament because it’s not nearly as exciting players cementing themself in NBA history.
Winning a single elimination tournament in the throes of the season is exciting, and is exactly the kind of thing that should boost a players’ legacy — but it certainly isn’t treated like that yet.
The greatest reason I can deduce is that fans will not care about a trophy unless it has a historical significance. The Playoffs have been around for ages so everyone important to NBA history has won one. The only notable NBA cup winner is the almighty King James.
The problem then becomes making the NBA Cup significant. The only way to do that is with time, which is why I’m glad the Cup returned in full capacity after a lukewarm reaction for its debut.
Maybe the Lakers taking the inaugural Cup is a best-case scenario for the long term health of the tournament. When Lebron retires, it will forever be listed on his resume, and lots of players will want to be like Bron.
That’s a big when though, as we all know Lebron looks like he could play for another 15 years.
For now, do your best to get excited about the cup. Enjoy the garish courts and the new uniforms, take an extra moment to relish those wins in the group play phase — or sulk in the loss for my fellow Celtics fans — and enjoy some higher-stakes basketball early in the season.
One day it might just mean something.
